Reel Recipes Video Submission

Use one or more of these topics to inspire your video and create a reel recipe that promotes cooking at home and its many benefits:

• The video must be vertical 1080x1920 (under 256 megabytes) and no longer than 90 seconds
• A 150-word summary must be provided with all video submissions. Your summary could include a description of your video, the key message(s) you chose to work on and why, any successes and challenges you encountered in creating your video, and why this video would be important for others to view
• Video submissions must follow all contest rules
• Video does not include any brand names, company endorsement images or logos (including the York Region logo)
• Ensure that all consent forms are signed before you submit your video online. All video participants must submit the appropriate consent forms

• Focus on vegetables and fruit and emphasize foods that are low in saturated fat, added sugar and salt
• Emphasize foods and recipes that are low cost and readily available at all common grocery stores
• Emphasize whole foods versus processed foods (such as pre-packaged highly processed foods that are high in sugar, fat and/or salt)
• Demonstrates cooking skills through preparation of a simple recipe
• Keep Canada’s Food Guide recommendations and food safety in mind
• Use at least one of any of the key messages provided

Eligible videos will be judged against the following criteria:

• First impressions of the video
• How engaging the videos are
• Grab the audience’s attention
• Inspire the viewer
• Food shown in videos aligns with the messages from Canada’s Food Guide
• Emphasize foods and recipes that are low cost and readily available at all common grocery stores
• Demonstrate an easy recipe that may or may not involve cooking equipment or use basic kitchen equipment
• Meal preparation skills are emphasized  

You must provide:

• Your name and email address
• Name of your school
• A high-resolution video file:
  • Accepted file types: .avi, .mov, .mp4, .hevc
  • Vertical (portrait) orientation - 1080x1920 
  • Under 256 megabytes
• A 150-word summary describing your video and your key messages
• A signed copy of the Participant Consent Form and the Photo/Video Consent form(s) (For any person under 18 years of age, the Participant Consent Form and the Photo/Video Consent Form need to be signed by their parent/guardian)
• Attachment of a signed copy of the Participant Consent Form and Photo/Video Consent Form for each person appearing in your video (For any person under 18 years of age the Participant Consent Form needs to be signed by their parent/guardian)

A Participant Consent Form and Photo/Video Consent Form(s) for each person appearing in the video must be submitted along with your contest submission in order for your video to be considered in the judging process.

1. You must live and/or attend a secondary school in York Region to qualify
2. Be between the ages of 14 and 18 years old
3. The submission of your video to the contest is your acknowledgement of, and agreement to, the terms and conditions of the contest, as outlined
4. You may only submit one video to the contest
5. Your video must be original, created by you, and you must not submit a project created by someone else or developed using AI. You must be the sole owner of all rights to the video you submit
6. The Regional Municipality of York retains the sole discretion to disqualify any videos that are contested in any manner
7. Your video must be relevant to the contest theme of nutrition and health and must be appropriate for posting by The Regional Municipality of York on its website
8. Your video must have a clear positive nutrition message based on one (or more) of the key messages provided (see Video Topic Options)
9. Your video must NOT contain depiction of weapons, violence, obscenity, defamation, or use of alcohol or drugs. The Regional Municipality of York will determine, in its sole discretion, what constitutes such content
10. Your video must NOT include any brand name items or company endorsement images (including the York Region logo)
11. Images and music used in your video must not be copyrighted material (i.e., you have used images you have taken and have consent for or have used images from a free image site)
12. If you use any statistics in your work, please use Canadian statistics and provide the sources. We will review them for accuracy and suitability
13. Those involved in the judging of the submissions (including student/youth volunteers) may participate in the contest but will not be eligible to collect or win prizes
14. The Regional Municipality of York is not responsible for computer system, hardware, software or program malfunctions or other errors, failures of delayed computer transactions or network connections that affect the contest or your participation in it. Furthermore, the Regional Municipality of York is not responsible for:
    • Lost, misdirected, misplaced, illegible, unintelligible, incomplete, or late entries
    • Any act, failure to act, or delay regarding the transmitting or processing of entries
15. You acknowledge The Regional Municipality of York reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel or suspend any portion of this contest for any reason whatsoever, without any liability to you for any costs you may have incurred in respect of the contest
16. The Regional Municipality of York is entitled to interpret these rules as required and its decision is final
17. This contest is subject to all applicable federal, provincial, and municipal laws and regulations. These contest rules are subject to change without notice to comply with any applicable federal, provincial, and municipal laws or the policy of any other entity having jurisdiction over the contest
18. By participating in the contest, you agree to hold harmless The Regional Municipality of York, and its employees, agents, and representatives from any, and all damages, injuries, claims, causes of actions, or losses of any kind resulting from your participation in this contest, including infringement of another person’s intellectual property rights. You also release The Regional Municipality of York and its employees, agents and representatives from any responsibility or liability for any damages, injuries, claims, and causes of actions or losses of any kind you may incur or suffer arising in whole or in part from your participation in this contest
19. All video submissions become the property of The Regional Municipality of York. The Regional Municipality of York may amend all, or part of the video it considers desirable for use
20. By entering the contest, you agree to have your video:
    • Adapted and posted on The Regional Municipality of York’s YouTube channel
    • Displayed at Regional locations
    • Used by The Regional Municipality of York as communications materials, advertising and promotional materials including social media
    • Shared with other Public Health Units or agencies
    • Posted on The Regional Municipality of York’s website and/or social media channels, for any purpose, and at any time in the future without any fee or other form of compensation
21. By entering the contest, you acknowledge and agree The Regional Municipality of York may use your name in the following manner:
    1. To release your name and school for the purpose of announcing winners and promoting any media campaign platform
    2. To include your name in any disclaimer pertaining to the submission
22. Your video must be received by The Regional Municipality of York (York Region Public Health) in its original format, and not via any third-party websites. Submissions must be made electronically via the Reel Recipes Video Contest Submission Form
23. All video submissions received after April 30, 2026, will not be eligible to participate in the contest
24. Videos received without a 150-word descriptive paragraph will not be eligible to participate in the contest
25. Videos will be judged by a panel of youth on criteria in five categories including first impression, creativity, alignment with campaign key message, nutrition criteria and ability to inspire meal preparation. These categories include how creatively the chosen nutrition topic and message have been incorporated into the video and how easily the video can be reproduced and used by The Regional Municipality of York (see Judging Criteria)
26. Participants who have submitted a winning video will be notified by email. Participants have five (5) days to respond to the email notification. If participants don’t respond by this time, their video will be disqualified and will not be eligible for contest prizes and another video will be selected
27. The Regional Municipality of York reserves the right to disqualify any contestant it has reason to believe does not comply with the contest rules. If after the awarding of the contest’s prizes, a contest winner is disqualified or determined to be ineligible, an alternative winner will be selected using the same judging process/criteria described above. Alternate winners are subject to all requirements set forth in these rules