Students at North Delta's Seaquam Secondary cleaned up at this year's national Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) competition, winning six of 17 total awards.

YRE Canada is a national environmental education program (part of the international YRE initiative co-ordinated by the Foundation for Environmental Education) that offers youth the opportunity to amplify their voices, raise awareness and advocacy on local environmental/climate issues through critical thinking, creativity and reporting, according to the organization's website.

Participants 11 to 18 years old investigate, report on and propose solutions to environmental issues using video, photography or writing. Students' submissions had to address one or more of the contest's themes 鈥� pollution, loss of biodiversity, and/or climate change 鈥� and link them to one of the United Nations' 17 "sustainable development goals" (SDGs).

In this year's contest, Seaquam teams claimed three photography awards and swept one of the video categories.

Students Mackenna Scambler and Lauren Landry won first place in the 15-18 age category for their photo titled "It鈥檚 too much trash!!!," which focused on the goal of ensuring the availability and sustainable management of clean water and sanitation for all.

Grace Bruneau, Anushka Biswal, and Sanya Sharma placed third in the same category for their photo, "Our Earth鈥檚 Sweltering Fate," which promotes taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

In the 11-14 age group, Gurtaj Mangat and Camdan Sagar placed third with their photo, "Freezing Cold, Burning Globe," which also focused on the need for climate action.

Over in the video age 15-18 category, students Mia Darar, Arveen Sekhon and Giuliana Gusso took the top prize for their work, "." It promotes the SDG "Life on Land," which encompasses protecting, restoring and promoting the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managing forests, combating desertification, halting and reversing land degradation, and halting biodiversity loss.

Grace Bruneau, Anushka Biswal and Sanya Sharma took second place with their video "," which addressed the SDG "good health and well-being," meant to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Finally, Sunny He, Liana Panditha and Simon Luo claimed third with their video "." That work promotes the SDG of "affordable and clean energy," meant to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

鈥淐limate change and climate anxiety are significant concerns for our youth, and initiatives like YRE provide them with a platform to critically analyze environmental issues in their communities and devise innovative solutions,鈥� Michael Iachetta, a teacher at Seaquam and sponsor of the school's Environment Club, said in a story posted to the school district website.

鈥淚t is hoped that their participation and success in this competition will ignite inspiration and empowerment among students to take proactive steps in their communities.鈥�

The district's post notes many YRE competition participants often join their school鈥檚 green teams, where they discover the value of collective action on environmental initiatives.

For example, this year some former YRE competitors took the initiative to present to students at local elementary schools and even conducted workshops for Delta educators during professional development days, aiming to share ideas and lessons while encouraging teachers to prioritize climate change education in their classrooms.

As first place winners, the teams of Scambler and Landry and Darar, Sekhon and Gusso will each receive a prize from National Geographic and their works will be Canada鈥檚 official entry in the 2024 International YRE competition. Winners from that contest will be announced later this year from the competition headquarters in Copenhagen Denmark.

More than 450,000 students in 44 countries are currently involved in the YRE program, and 19,000 photos, articles and videos are submitted to the various national competitions every year.

All of the 2024 YRE Canada National Competition award-winning submissions can be viewed online at .