SWE is excited to announce the first Wow! Innovation Challenge of 2021. Make sure to submit by March 30, 2021!
2021 Wow! Innovation Challenge
As students progress into new phases of their lives—like transitioning to college or shifting from college to career—it can be hard for them to visualize what their new experience will look like. Especially during a time when students may not be able to visit colleges or have in-person internships, there is a need for new ways for students to envision their futures. Your SWE section can fill that need! Create a 4-5 minute video* showing off the creativity and personality of your SWE section and the things that your school or employers have to offer. Since schools, cities, and worksites have different restrictions in place for the pandemic, videos can comprise any combination of pictures, videos, voice overs, or other media formats. The top two scoring sections for both the collegiate and professional level will receive a $1000 and $500 Visa Gift Card, respectively, to be used for future Outreach programming. All submitted videos will be used in upcoming SWENext marketing and will be linked to on the SWE website, with the winners receiving special highlights.
Submit your video by March 30, 2021!
*Videos that do not meet the 4-5 min requirement will be disqualified.
Additional guidance for video content based on section type is provided below. The items can be combined however you see fit–have fun with this and flex your creative muscles!
Collegiate Sections
In thinking about information that’s useful to high school students interested in your college, your video should highlight:
- Details about your school, surrounding area, and city
- Details about your SWE section including size, leadership opportunities, and events you host
- Brief interview(s) with current SWE member(s) about SWE leadership experience, engineering focus, relevant class projects or technical work experience (co-op, internship, research, etc.)
- Information about how your section and school support diversity, equity, and inclusion, partake in social justice and civic engagement, and support students’ supports mental health
- Information about the engineering department(s), including size and extracurricular opportunities
Professional Sections
(Also applies to MALs and other Affiliates)
In thinking about information that’s useful for early-career professionals, your video should highlight:
- Details about your SWE section, including where your members are from and the kinds of events you host
- Information about the companies and diversity of engineering backgrounds represented in your section, including “tours” (by video, picture, etc.) of members’ workplaces, if possible (with care to avoid any confidential/protected data in your workplace)
- Brief interview(s) with current SWE member(s) about having a career in STEM and the best lesson learned while transitioning into a professional role
- Information about how your section (or individual members) partakes in social justice, civic engagement, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
- How SWE has helped section members build personal and professional networks
Video creation resources
- Create animated videos and presentations
- Design and video production app for tablets
- Screen capture and video recording
- For a voiceover presentation, consider using PowerPoint or Prezi
Please reach out to outreach@swe.org if you have any concerns about your designation as an applicant, or questions about the challenge overall.
