Contest pushes cleaner campus

By Warren Taylor

[email protected]

Students wanting to make UK a cleaner place have the ability to do so with the snap of a picture.

The Pick It Up campaign is sponsoring the ‘Picture a Litter-Free Campus’ photo contest, according to a Feb. 5 press release from UKNow.

Alex Miller, a student intern in the Office of Sustainability who helped develop the contest, said “the pictures we are looking for are anything that promotes a litter free campus: actual litter, recycling boxes or trash cans.”

Students and UK employees wanting to participate can submit photos to [email protected] by March 11 to be eligible for the grand prize — an iPad mini. ”People’s Choice” winners, which will consist of one student and one employee, will be selected based on the number of likes and shares a photo gets on the Office of Sustainability’s Facebook page. A third prize winner will take home the “Best in Show” designation based on the voting of a panel of judges.

Since its launch last September, the Pick It Up Campaign has emphasized using Gnarly, the UK litter mascot, to highlight the university’s litter problem, according to UKNow.

Miller, an international studies and environmental and sustainability studies junior said that she thinks Gnarly is a fun way to bring attention to the campaign, but also believes he needs to have more of a presence on campus.

Miller also hopes that the social media aspect of the contest will further “showcase the efforts of the sustainability office to decrease the amount of litter on campus.”

Staff and students who wish to join in the effort can also seek out Gnarly on campus, or can send a note or photo to [email protected] to report someone in the act of cleaning up or tossing trash on the ground. Those who do so will be rewarded with a “Get Gnarly” t-shirt.