Welcome to Student Nature Vids!

A University-wide student video competition showcasing creativity and love for nature through beautiful vistas, wildlife, and outdoor adventure! Winners receive $1,000 into their student accounts!

The Competition Returns for 2025

The film festival is back with exciting new developments! HDNR has partnered with Rocky Mountain Student Media to elevate the competition’s quality and reach. Another significant change is the location of our film festival. The competition is moving off campus to The Lyric, a renowned Fort Collins arts and film industry venue!

Submissions are now OPEN!
Submission deadline: March 23rd

Film Festival: Thursday, April 17th
Industry mixer 4-6 p.m. | Film festival 6:15-7:30 p.m.
Sponsorship information available here.

We’re committed to making this the best event and film showcase yet!

Thank you to our sponsors!

Presenting Sponsors:

Trailblazer Sponsors:

Pathfinder Sponsors:

She's Fly CMYK Stacked

Category Overviews

Filmmakers must self-select the category they feel best fits their short video. Footage can be raw or purposely edited and must be below 2GB in size and < 3 min in length. The winner in each category will receive a prize of $1,000!!

Outdoor Recreation

Videos which emphasize humans enjoying the outdoors. Examples include:

  • Extreme sports/adaptive extreme sports
  • Canoeing/kayaking
  • Camping / hiking
  • Ecotourism
  • Skiing / snowboarding
  • World travel (this category reminds us that humans are part of nature, not separated from it)
  • Climbing
  • Cultural tourism (e.g., food, study tours, performing arts, festivals/cultural events, ethnic/indigenous tourism, sites and monuments, folklore/art, pilgrimages, etc.)

Nature and Environment

Videos which emphasize the natural world, including human effort to protect it. Examples include:

  • Sustainability (e.g., climate change mitigation)
  • Nature conservation
  • Protected areas (e.g., National Parks)
  • Flora / fauna
  • Landscapes / seascapes
  • Environmental communication (e.g., outdoor educational programs, interpretive signage, etc.)

Wildlife and Animals

Videos that emphasize any occurrence in nature involving wildlife and animals. These can be prepared in advance or random occurrences, and human involvement is optional. Examples include:

  • Documentary-style
  • Surprises
  • Educational
  • Rare encounters
  • Human-wildlife co-existence

Note: Any video at odds with CSU’s Code of Student Conduct will not be released for viewing, nor considered as a viable entry for the Film Festival competition.

Judging Criteria

Video submissions for each category will be reviewed in the Spring by a neutral committee of WCNR students and faculty not participating in the competition. Did we mention that the winner in each category will receive $1,000!?!?!

The judging criteria includes:

  • Sizzle (overall “wow” factor based on what the judge / viewer / audience experiences while viewing; i.e., is it interesting?)
  • Production quality (sound, imagery, lighting, etc.; i.e., is it technically/aesthetically intact?)
  •  Impact (measures what the judge / viewer / audience is thinking and feeling while interacting with the story, setting, “characters” – e.g., wildlife, plants, people; etc. – and overall message of the video; i.e., is it inspiring?)

FAQs

  • Do I have to be a HDNR student or a WCNR student? No, this is open to all CSU students!
  • Can I form a team? Yes, but we can’t rip the $1,000 winning check into parts, so you as a team will have to divvy up the winnings amongst yourselves!

Disclaimer

  • Organizers of this film festival reserve the right to cancel competition categories and or require that entrants re-assign their submissions to other categories as needed (e.g., if the number of submissions for a particular category is insufficient to include that category in the final competition).