Antibiotic Awareness Campaign 2018

Facing the antibiotics crisis head-on demands action! This coming November, in coordination with World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Antibiotic Awareness Week November 12 – 19, 2018, Tiny Earth is holding its Antibiotic Awareness Campaign 2018.

Tiny Earth is moving the conversation beyond the lab. Together with WHO and the CDC, Tiny Earth will raise awareness about antimicrobial resistance and illuminate core actions people can take to turn the tide. The single most important action to slow the development and spread of antibiotic-resistant infections is to reduce the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture. Join the Tiny Earth Antibiotic Awareness Campaign 2018 and show us the innovative ways you and your peers are raising awareness about the antibiotic crisis in your community and beyond.

Big News! Tiny Earth is excited to partner with WNYC’s Science Friday. Science Friday is an award winning public radio program dedicated to increasing the public’s access to science and scientific information. Science Friday’s team will help Tiny Earth select this year’s top submissions.

To participate, Tiny Earth students are challenged to create public service announcements (PSA) designed raise awareness about the implications of antibiotic resistance and thereby stimulate others to act.

Instructions

How to Enter

Create your PSA about the antibiotic crisis. Use a format described below or create your own.
Share your PSA online via Twitter with @TinyEarthNet or through Tiny Earth’s Facebook Group Page. Include your full name, school, how many people you reached, and the following hashtags: #BeAntibioticsAware #AntibioticResistance.

Tiny Earth Antibiotic Awareness Campaign Ideas

Use these ideas or create your own! (Remember to get permission from your instructor if you are doing something on campus.)

Make a Video (max 5 minutes) – Be a director and/or an actor in your own medical genre classic bringing viewers on your journey to learn about the antibiotic crisis. Consider answering some of the following questions: What is antibiotic resistance? Why should you be concerned? What can you do about it? Where would you expect to find microbes that produce antibiotics? (For ideas, check out last year’s undergraduate winner from Tiny Earth students at UC-Irvine.)
Organize an Event – Ever want to share your research with the community? Host an open house and walk others through what you are doing and why it is important. Are you a movie lover? Consider screening an outbreak-style film with an important message on how to keep that from happening in real life. Like games? Consider hosting a tournament to play Gut Check or Pandemic.
Write a Blog or an Op-Ed for a Student or Local Paper? Leverage your writing and passion for science policy and reach hundreds to thousands of readers with a message and argument related to antibiotic resistance.
Bake for Antibiotic Resistance – Do you like to practice your plating skills in the kitchen? Wonder what impact eating icing-streaked, Petri-dish shaped cookies has on people? Hold an antibiotic-themed bake sale.
Measure – Wonder how many people at your school really wash their hands after using the restroom? Curious about whether your classmates demand antibiotics every time they feel sick? Create a mini-study and share your results. How does your school compare to national averages? What recommendations do you have for improvement?
Write a Song – Did you ever want to join The Voice but did not know how to incorporate your love for microbiology? Not a great singer but enjoy lip syncing while digging in soil and hunting for microbes? Make a funny song or lip sync about something related to antibiotic resistance.
Buzz – Create an online interactive quiz on buzzfeed to spread awareness on antibiotic resistance. Remember to follow their posting rules.
Fundraise – Add a fundraising element to your action. Consider using funds to help students at your school attend the Tiny Earth Symposium or donating to help Tiny Earth train more educators from under-resourced schools. Film screenings and bake sales can have a fundraising element. Or, maybe, you want to design a catchy t-shirt on antibiotic resistance. Even better, create the next ice bucket challenge. Be sure to get permission from your instructor first. Let us know what you raise so that we can announce it.
Passionate about something else? Consider how you might incorporate that into our do something challenge.

Awards

Full contest prize details are forthcoming but will include a sponsored invitation to travel to Madison, Wisconsin for Tiny Earth’s 2019 Symposium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to present your PSA to the Tiny Earth community.

Undergraduate 1^st Place
Undergraduate Runner Up
High School Award
Micro Mundo Award

Deadline

Friday, November 30, 2019

How Prizes will be awarded:

The winners will be selected based on the reach and depth of their project. A Selection Committee will include Tiny Earth’s staff, Tiny Earth faculty and Science Friday team, among others. Any conflicted parties will not vote on the final winner.

Submission Usage

By submitting an entry, entrants agree that the Tiny Earth may use, repost, and publish entries. Entrants will be credited if/when their entries are used.

Print out a flyer

Spread the word!

Tiny Earth is delighted to announce the winners of our 2018 November Antibiotic Awareness Campaign. We received over 20 submissions from students representing high schools and colleges across the world. We would like to thank all of our student scientists who participated and know that your PSAs made a difference in the fight to curb the antibiotic crisis.

Representatives from the CDC, Science Friday, and Merck & Co., Inc. judged all of the submissions on creativity, reach, and overall effectiveness as PSAs. Tiny Earth would like to thank our judges and congratulate the following winners.

OVERALL WINNER

Cardenal Herrera University

High School Winners

1st

The Ethel Walker School
Antibiotic Awareness Board Game

2nd

The Ethel Walker School
Baked Goods Antibiotic Awareness Sale

3rd

Brockton High School
Infographic Antibiotic Awareness Twitter Campaign

College Winners

1st

Cardenal Herrara University
Antibiotic Awareness PSA Video

2nd (tie)

University of California-Irvine
Antibiotic Awareness PSA

2nd (tie)

University of California-Irvine:
Antibiotic Awareness PSA

3rd

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Antibiotic Awareness Music Video

Our Judges

Michael Craig, Senior Advisor for CDC’s Antibiotic Resistance Coordination and Strategy Unit, leads the coordination of CDC’s $170 million cross-cutting antibiotic resistance portfolio by developing and guiding CDC’s strategic direction to address national goals to combat antibiotic resistance. He also works closely with leadership within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and with the President’s Advisory Committee for Combatting Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) to align public health activities related to antibiotic resistance across multiple federal agencies.

Dr. Elizabeth Hermsen is the Head of Global Antimicrobial Stewardship at Merck & Co., Inc. and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine, in Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Hermsen received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center followed by a pharmacy practice residency at The Nebraska Medical Center, a fellowship in Infectious Diseases Research at the University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy, and a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management with an emphasis in healthcare industry. Following her fellowship, Dr. Hermsen developed and co-directed the antimicrobial stewardship program at The Nebraska Medical Center and subsequently joined Cubist, where she created and led the Antimicrobial Stewardship Outreach Group. Now, in her role at Merck, she is responsible for creating and executing a strategy to advance antimicrobial stewardship through education, implementation, research, and advocacy focused on patient outcomes, population health, and the value of care. She has a global scope that includes human health, animal health, and environmental sciences.

Ariel Zych is the Education Director at Science Friday, where she develops award-winning science multimedia and education programs to advance science literacy for all audiences. Drawing upon Science Friday’s tradition of engaging interviews with scientists, engineers, mathematicians, artists and authors, Ariel works to create engaging science activities, citizen science challenges, teacher workshops, and multimedia that reach hundreds of thousands of kids, parents, educators, and lifelong learners every year. Before coming to Science Friday, Ariel worked as an educator and scientist all around the country. She’s taught high school biology and marine science in Washington DC, researched acoustic communication in scentless plant bugs, studied the mating habits of periwinkle snails, worked as a zoo and museum educator and has sailed with a deep sea exploration team aboard the E/V Nautilus among other pursuits.