Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pleased to announce the 7th annual Campus RainWorks Challenge that is a green infrastructure design competition. The competition is open to colleges and universities across the United States and its territories.
The Campus RainWorks Challenge seeks to engage with undergraduate and graduate students to foster a dialogue about stormwater management and showcase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure practices.
For the 2018 challenge, the first place team in each design category will receive a student prize of $2,000 to be divided evenly between the team and a faculty prize of $3,000. The second place team in each category will receive a student prize of $1,000 to be divided evenly between the team and a faculty prize of $2,000.
Table of Contents
Who May Eligible:
To compete in the Campus RainWorks Challenge, student teams must meet all of the following eligibility requirements:
Participating Institutions
- Student teams must be affiliated with an academic institution that meets one of the following descriptions:
- A public nonprofit institution/organization (limited to degree-granting public institutions of higher education1) located in the U.S., state and local governments, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, and U.S. territories or possessions.
- A private nonprofit institution/organization (limited to degree-granting private institutions of higher education2) located in the U.S., state and local governments, Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Governments, and U.S. territories or possessions.
- Student teams affiliated with a community or technical college that meet one of the descriptions above are also eligible.
Participating Students
- All team members must meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Be enrolled in a degree program (undergraduate or graduate) at a college or university eligible to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Campus RainWorks Challenge as of August 31, 2018.
- Have received a degree (undergraduate or graduate) from a participating institution within 12 months prior to August 31, 2018.
- Have received a degree (undergraduate or graduate) from a participating institution within the past 24 months and be enrolled in at least one class (live or online) at a participating institution as of August 31, 2018.
Participating Teams
- Each student team must be sponsored by a faculty advisor. The faculty advisor must be a professor at the participating academic institution.
- Current graduate students and staff that are not considered faculty is not eligible to act as faculty advisors.
- Team composition and size is at the discretion of the team submitting an entry.
- Teams may be composed of students from more than one academic institution if the team meets all of the following criteria:
- All participating institutions are eligible per the Participating Institutions section above.
- All participating students are eligible per the Participating Students section above.
- The project submitted is designed for one of the institutions represented by the team.
- The faculty advisor is associated with the same institution as the submission design.
How to Apply & Competitions Rules:
To participate, the applicants must submit an application online form through the given link: https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/forms/register-2017-campus-rainworks-challenge
Note: Participating teams must email their complete entries to RainWorks@epa.gov
Rules:
- EPA is accepting submissions in two design categories: Demonstration Project, Master Plan
- Individual teams may submit entries for both categories but must submit a different design for each.
- Work from one team’s submission cannot be reused in another team’s submission.
- Additionally, submissions from prior years cannot be resubmitted. After registering for the Campus RainWorks Challenge teams may switch categories at any time up until the submission due date of December 14, 2018.
- Requests to switch categories should include the current registration number and should be sent to RainWorks@epa.gov.
Submission Requirements:
- To compete in EPA’s Campus RainWorks Challenge, registered teams must submit the following which describes an innovative green infrastructure project for a location on their campus:
- One (1) Project Narrative
- One (1) Design Board
- One (1) Video Pitch
- One (1) Signed Letter of Support
- Incomplete entries will be disqualified.
- Submissions should provide detailed information of sufficient quality to enable the judges to evaluate the design based on the challenge’s judging criteria.
- A description of the Campus RainWorks Challenge judging criteria begins on page 10 of this document.
- Submissions should describe overall project goals, how the project fits within the context of the campus or watershed, existing conditions along with the problem to be solved, proposed green infrastructure approaches, and expected outcomes along with the problem to be solved, proposed green infrastructure approaches, and expected outcomes.
Benefits:
Prizes will be distributed as follows:
Student Prize
- 1st Prize Demonstration Project: $2,000
- 1st Prize Master Plan: $2,000
- 2nd Prize Demonstration Project:$1,000
- 2nd Prize Master Plan: $1,000
Faculty Prize
- 1st Prize Demonstration Project: $3,000
- 1st Prize Master Plan: $3,000
- 2nd Prize Demonstration Project: $2,000
- 2nd Prize Master Plan: $2,000
Application Deadline:
Registration opens September 1 and closes September 30, 2018.
