CONTEST DETAILS Read the Official Rules.
Review the Challenge Planner (PDF) .
Preview the Action Plan (PDF).
ENTRY DETAILS Registration Opens: November 3, 2008
Deadline: December 12, 2008
Submission format: MS Word document Action Plan
Supporting materials (extra credit): digital photos, videos, Web sites, news articles, television spots, PowerPoint presentations, and any related media.

HOW TO ENTER
Step 1: Teacher Advisors: Register your team (any time during the duration of the challenge) online at www.scholastic.com/lexus. You will receive an administrative UserID and password via email to use during the application process.  Save this email for future reference.

Step 2: Student Teams: Go to www.scholastic.com/lexus and review the questions that you will need to answer as part of your Action Plan.

Step 3: Student Teams: Complete parts one and two of the Action Plan. Start by choosing one of the following topics and identify a specific environmental issue within this topic that affects your local community:

• Water Conservation and Fresh Water Shortages
• Shrinking Wetlands and Aquatic Habitats

• Threats to the World’s Waterways and Oceans (e.g. poorly managed fishing, pollution,
  coastal tourism and development, and shipping)

It is recommended that teams attach supporting digital photos for Challenge #2. These materials could include digital photos, videos, Web sites, news articles, television spots, PowerPoint presentations, and any related media. Acceptable file formats include: Word files and similar word processing files (doc), Excel files (xls), PowerPoint files (ppt), video, PDF, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, and other digital photo files.

Step 4:Student Teams: Work with the Teacher Advisor to begin this Eco Challenge, implement your project, and complete the Action Plan. This step will require the most amount of time!

Step 5:Teacher Advisors: Review your Team’s Action Plan and supporting materials, if any. Give your team feedback.

Step 6: Teacher Advisors: Using the administrative UserID and password, log in at www.scholastic.com/lexus. Submit your team’s final Action Plan online. (Please note: no entries will be accepted in the mail.) Action Plans must be submitted in a Microsoft Word document. You may also attach up to five (5) supporting files. (Note: there is a file size limit of 4mb.)

Note to Teacher: In the event of multiple submissions, the most recent files will be used.

Challenge #2: Water
Potential winners will be notified on or about December 12, 2008 by email.

PRIZE: Sixteen (16) prize winning Teams consisting of two (2) middle school teams in each of four Lexus market regions-Eastern, Southern, Central, and Western as shown on the attached map (the "Four Lexus Market Regions") AND two (2) high school teams in each of the Four Lexus Market Regions will each receive a $10,000 prize. The $10,000 prize is to be distributed as follows: $1,000 grant awarded directly to the Teacher Advisor for to be used toward purchasing school-related supplies and/or supporting educational programs/school clubs or initiatives, $7,000 to be evenly distributed among the Team members in the form of checks made payable to the parent or legal guardian of each Student who was part of the winning Team, and $2,000 to the winning team's school. The sixteen (16) winning Teams will also be invited to compete in the Final Challenge-Challenge #4.

Total approximate retail value ("ARV") of all prizes and awards for Challenge #1 combined: $160,000.