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CORVALLIS, Ore. - A contest for Oregon State University students invites written works or videos that tell hopeful stories about new ways for humans to prosper on Earth.

"The Great Work: Re-imagining Humanity as the Planet Changes" is sponsored by the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word, with support from the Student Sustainability Initiative. Winning written entries will be published in an insert in the Daily Barometer, and winning videos will be screened at a special event in the spring. Winners also receive $100 awards.

The deadline for submissions is March 5.

"Turbulent times are coming, bringing climate change, declining cheap energy, and many other environmental, economic and social disruptions," said Charles Goodrich, director of the Spring Creek Project. "We are looking for new stories that bring our values and aspirations together with our best scientific and social information to create meaningful options for embracing the future."

The contest takes its title from cultural historian Thomas Berry who wrote that "the Great Work" is for the human species to transform itself from destructive forces into co-creators of the planet's ecological abundance.

The Great Work is open to written and video entries in any genre: documentary, essay, opinion, and creative. "We want to hear from students in engineering and agriculture, music and creative writing, fisheries, pharmacy, every field," Goodrich said.

Contest guidelines and submission information can be found on the Spring Creek website: http://springcreek.oregonstate.edu/