Take the 2025 Geoff Lealand Student Challenge

Better Public Media Trust is pleased to announce the Geoff Lealand Student Challenge is back for 2025 with the theme of 'Social media. Love it or leave it?'

As always the 1st prize is $1,000, 2nd prize is $500, and the winner's school gets $500 for their Media Studies Department.

The Geoff Lealand Student Challenge is open to all high school students in Aotearoa New Zealand. It runs throughout May 2025. Entries must be submitted by 31 May 2025.

To enter students answer the following question with a piece of content that they create:

Social media. Love it or leave it?

We will accept anything including an essay, a video, a podcast, a poem, a song, a recording of a song/poem/performance, a painting, a sculpture, a mime, a website, a series of memes, a series of social media posts or anything else. It just has to be created by you and be a response to the question 'Social media. Love it or leave it?'.

Written presentations should not exceed 1200 words, and audio or video works should not exceed 12 minutes.

You can use AI (if you must) but make sure the content is your own unique, personal view. The judges are looking for evidence of the thought and research you have put into your content. You can say whatever you like but we want to know that you have thought about it. You can write out an explanation of your thinking in the entry form below if you wish.

Here are some questions to get you started:

• Some young people are turning off social media. Is it time for a rethink on social media?
• Is social media a positive influence on your life?
• Is it good for democracy, education, social cohesion?
• Does it reflect you and your life?
• Does social media build trust?
• Are you more connected with people on social media or in real life?
• What could social media platforms be like without adverts, if they weren't trying to make money?
• If you could design your own social media platform what would make it different and better?
• Should social media platforms be legally accountable as publishers for the content they carry? 
• Does social media have a role in reflecting communities and in communicating?
• How important are informed readers/listeners/viewers?
• Are there problems with manipulation and/or avoidance of information that limit mainstream media?
• Or is social media just fine as it is?

Here are links to the winners from 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023. Here's a link to videos that have been entered in previous years (but note that we accept entries of all kinds, not just videos).

Here's the entry form. Good luck and any queries, please email us here.

if you run into problems, contact office@betterpublicmedia.org.nz and don't panic!