Contest challenges students to create awareness campaign for COVID-19 vaccine

Despite the availability of three COVID-19 vaccines, immunization hesitancy continues to be a challenge. The Center for Clinical and Translational Science is leading a cross-campus initiative to gain a better understanding of the perceptions around COVID-19 vaccination, with the goal of translating these findings to a student-organized public awareness campaign.

“We wanted to take a homegrown approach to vaccine awareness,” said Lauren Rieger, associate director of outreach and engagement for CCTS. “We hope our students will develop messaging that will resonate with their friends, family and community members — the people that need this information the most.”

This is a wonderful opportunity to not only get involved with the Chicago community and build your resume but also to use your creative minds to contribute to a really important moment in public health. Judging criteria and awards will be evaluated by the extent to which the creative content motivates individuals to get vaccinated.

Find competition guidelines here. The deadline is 5 p.m. April 9. Creative content should be submitted via REDCap.

Prizes will be awarded within each category, including $200 prize to the top-scoring submission and $100 prizes for honorable mention. A grand-prize winner across all categories will receive $400. Winners will be announced in early May.

Submissions must:

1. Be from current UIC students (undergraduate or graduate)
2. Come from a team of 2-4 students
3. Fit one of the categories below:
   1. Poster/Billboard/Print media
   2. TikTok or YouTube video (must be less than 2 minutes)
   3. Tweet or Facebook content
   4. Snapchat or Instagram content
   5. Radio/podcast (30 seconds or less)
   6. Radio/podcast (5 minutes or less)
   7. Other: creative freedom

Each submission must answer the following questions:

1. Who is the intended target audience?
2. Why? Justify your response based on need to reach individuals who might be hesitant to receive a vaccine.
3. What is the dissemination strategy/media plan to ensure your ad is seen by the target population?

Any additional questions can be directed to Lauren Rieger at laurenw@uic.edu. Please use subject line “COVID-19 Vaccine Competition.”