Nat Geo WILD, The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival And The African Wildlife Foundation Announce Elephant Conservation PSA Contest Rally The Herd

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nat Geo WILD, in partnership with the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), announced today the Rally the Herd public service announcement (PSA) contest, to raise awareness of the plight of the African elephant. The contest will give aspiring wildlife filmmakers, conservationists, students or anyone with a passion for protecting our largest land animals the opportunity to create a public service announcement that rallies others to action. The winning PSA will air on Nat Geo WILD.

Participants are asked to submit a PSA focused on the African elephant, with the goal of inspiring others to learn more about the decline of the population and to offer their help. PSAs should be no longer than 90 seconds and can be created with original footage, and/or footage and photography provided by Nat Geo WILD. Entries will be accepted through Sept. 7 at each of the partners' Facebook pages or by visiting bitly.com/RallyTheHerd, and will be judged on the following criteria:

• Connection to theme of the African elephant (30%)
• Quality of storyline and script (20%)
• Creativity and/or content originality (20%)
• Production quality (e.g., lighting, shot composition, focus, sound) (15%)
• Editing (15%)

The top three finalists will be announced by Sept. 14, 2015, and invited to the Jackson Hole Elephant Conservation Summit, Sept. 27-29, where for three days leading elephant scientists, conservationists and advocates will convene with 650+ international media professionals to share resources and strategies, and brainstorm innovative approaches to halt the killing of elephants and illegal trafficking of ivory. The winning PSA will air on Nat Geo WILD later this year. 

"Getting people to care about these elephants is the first step in motivating them to act," said Geoff Daniels, executive vice president and general manager of Nat Geo WILD. "We look forward to seeing how these filmmakers use the camera lens to ignite that passion in viewers to want to learn and do more."

Poachers kill as many as 35,000 elephants each year in Africa, and other threats such as habitat loss and conflict with humans are jeopardizing the future of one of the continent's most iconic species. Nat Geo WILD takes its viewers to the front lines of this crisis, where conservation groups like AWF are battling to save the species from extinction.

"Documentaries, films, National Geographic articles and programs have all helped to inspire a sense of awe and appreciation for the African elephant," said Dr. Patrick Bergin, CEO of AWF. "Now we need the camera lens to inspire advocates for their survival."

Lisa Samford, executive director of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and Conservation Summit, added, "We aim to engage the power of media to influence global change to spark a cultural shift and empower a public front that doesn't tolerate the use of ivory products and illegal poaching of the world's elephants."

For more information and complete rules, visit bitly.com/RallyTheHerd.

About Nat Geo WILD
For more than 30 years, National Geographic has been the leader in wildlife programming. The networks Nat Geo WILD and Nat Geo WILD HD, launched in 2010, offer intimate encounters with nature's ferocious fighters and gentle creatures of land, sea and air that draw upon the cutting-edge work of the many explorers, filmmakers and scientists of the National Geographic Society. Part of the National Geographic Channels US, based in Washington, D.C., the networks are a joint venture between National Geographic and Fox Cable Networks. In 2001, National Geographic Channel (NGC) debuted, and 10 years later, Spanish-language network Nat Geo Mundo was unveiled. The Channels have carriage with all of the nation's major cable, telco and satellite television providers, with Nat Geo WILD currently available in 57 million U.S. homes. Globally, Nat Geo WILD is available in more than 192 million homes in 134 countries and 37 languages. For more information, visit natgeowild.com, find us on Facebook at facebook.com/natgeowild or follow @natgeowild on Twitter and Instagram.

About Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival
Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival's (JHWFF's) programs galvanize the power of media to inspire wonder, catalyze change and make a difference in the world. Since 1991, its annual professional conferences draw together international leaders in science, conservation, broadcasting and media, and anchor its growing outreach programs. The JHWFF encourages the production of natural history programming around the world by providing nonfiction media industry stakeholders with an international film forum to conduct business, test new equipment, refine production techniques and celebrate the world's finest nature and science programming. For three days, committed elephant advocates will convene for the Jackson Hole Conservation Summit: Saving Elephants (Sept. 27-29), to share resources and strategies, address critical challenges and brainstorm innovative approaches for collaboration. They join 650+ of the world's most influential filmmakers and commissioners at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival (Sept. 28-Oct. 2) to celebrate the world's finest nature programming.

About the African Wildlife Foundation
Founded in 1961, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is a leading conservation organization focused solely on the African continent. AWF's programs and conservation strategies are based on sound science and designed to protect both the wild lands and wildlife of Africa and ensure a more sustainable future for Africa's people. Since its inception, AWF has protected endangered species and land, promoted conservation enterprises that benefit local African communities, and trained hundreds of African nationals in conservation — all to ensure the survival of Africa's unparalleled wildlife heritage. AWF is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Kenya and registered as a 501(c)(3) in the United States. For more information, visit www.awf.org and follow us on Twitter @AWF_Official and Facebook at facebook.com/AfricanWildlifeFoundation.

SOURCE Nat Geo WILD