The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) is proud to announce its 2024 public service announcement (PSA) contest, PSAid.
The contest challenges college students to produce PSAs that creatively articulate why “Cash is Best” when helping people affected by international disasters. Cash contributions allow relief organizations to purchase exactly what is most urgently needed to help survivors.
The contest is designed to fit in the curriculum of communications, graphic design, digital media and/or advertising classes, but we welcome anyone who wants to enter.
Students are encouraged to produce PSAs in any of the below categories, and can enter as a group or individually:
- Static Image – An ad that can appear in a magazine, newspaper or online. Can be in the form of a digital ad, social graphic or infographic.
- GIF – a short (10 seconds or less) animated image with no sound.
- Video – must be exactly 15 or 30 seconds in length.
The due date for submissions is Monday, March 18, 2024 (midnight Pacific time), and the winners will be announced the week of April 22nd. ThePSAID website has contest rules and guidelines as well as past winning PSAs, and a video that can be shared with students. You can find a one-pager with additional details here.
Additionally, winning GIF, print, and video PSAs are used by USAID social media channels, placed in online newspapers across the country and run on popular streaming services. Past winning PSAs have reached well over one billion people and have aired in more than 150 media markets, including top markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington and Boston. Video PSAs have aired during popular shows including NCIS, The Goldbergs, America’s Got Talent, Dateline NBC, Access Hollywood and Chicago Fire and winning static PSAs have been featured in the Forbes, Rolling Stone, The Boston Herald, St. Louis Dispatch, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Philadelphia Life and the Arizona Republic, to name a few.
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The “Cash is Best” message is central to the work done by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. USAID BHA works to educate the public about why providing monetary donations is the best way to help people who are affected by disasters worldwide. With a cash contribution, relief organizations can purchase exactly what is most urgently needed to help survivors – without incurring any transportation or storage costs. Cash also enables relief supplies to be purchased near the disaster site, stimulating local economies when they need it most. Students who participate support this mission by encouraging good giving habits, which ultimately saves lives all over the world.