Hawkesbury High wins third place in Brand Without a Bottle film competition

The short film contest challenged students from around NSW to write compelling short scripts and storyboards to persuade people to choose tap water and help reduce plastic waste.

Six finalist schools had their scripts professionally filmed, and winners were decided by an expert judging panel - including Craig Reucassel from the popular ABC War on Waste series - as well as by popular online vote.

The winners were announced at a red carpet gala dinner at Blacktown Theatre Complex. Hawkesbury High came in third after Muirfield High School tied for first place with William Carey Christian School.

Liz Minor, Senior Education Advisor at Sydney Water congratulated the winning schools.

“I am amazed at the creativity and passion the students showed for tap water. Brand Without a Bottle was a great opportunity to celebrate the students’ creative ideas and use their voices, rather than ours, to promote tap water and shift perceptions of bottled water,” she said.

Hawkesbury High will be able to use their $1500 prize money for water-related projects or learning resources for the school. They also won a permanent water refill station and refillable water bottles.

According to Sydney Water, plastic water bottles take anywhere from 400 to 1,000 years to breakdown and are among the ten most common rubbish items picked up on Clean up Australia Day.

Sydney Water removes over 1 million plastic bottles from local waterways each year.

“Australians purchased over a billion plastic water bottles in 2017. By sharing their story about the problems associated with plastic water bottles and encouraging

people to choose tap water, these schools are inspiring our community to change and reduce plastic waste,” said Ms Minor.

To find out more about the Brand Without a Bottle short film competition visit: http://oursydneyourwater.com.au/brand-without-bottle/.