Gary Fox Drinking Water Protection Contest

Grades 4 to 9 students learning in Quinte Conservation's watershed are invited to participate in the Gary Fox Drinking Water Protection Contest. This contest hopes to inspire youth in the Quinte area to think about ways they can protect sources of drinking water by creating an engaging radio advertisement.

Quinte Conservation's Source Water staff has reached out to instructors in the Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and the Hastings & Prince Edward District School Board.

Contest Details

Before student begin the challenge, they must watch the following videos:

For additional information, students can also watch:

Find all these videos on YouTube under our Gary Fox Radio Contest Playlist

After watching the videos, students are challenged to create a 30-second radio ad about protecting drinking water.

Students can work alone or in a group.
If the winning ad is from a group of students, they will be required to attend the recording session together.
Ads must include the following statement: "For more information on drinking water protection, visit www.QuinteSourceWater.ca."
Deadline for ad submission is May 1, 2026

Ad Submission

Ads must be exported in a playable format (i.e. MP4, MP3, MOV, or M4A).
Student names must be included in the submission. They can be included in the file name or in an email.
Teachers can submit their students' ads by emailing Claire Vandervoort, SWP Technical Assistant, at cvandervoort@quinteconservation.ca.

Judging

Select Quinte Conservation staff will review all the submissions and choose the radio ad that best highlights drinking water protection.

Once the judging committee has picked the winning ad, our SWP Technical Assistant will email all participating classrooms to announce the winning student(s) and the winning classroom.

Prize

The winning classroom will receive a free field trip* to a local water treatment facility (the exact date is to be determined based on staff availability), and a pizza lunch.

The student winner(s) will be invited to Loyalist College’s 91X radio station to record their ad in the studio and receive a professionally produced copy of their ad to take home. The winning student(s) will also be given a tour of the station and shown the process of creating a radio ad. The final ad will then run on 91X FM.

*At this point, the field trip is only available for ALCDSB students because water treatment plants are currently not on the HPEDSB list of approved field trip locations. A classroom virtual tour of the plant may be available to students in HPEDSB pending water treatment plant staff availability

About Gary Fox

To honour former Agricultural Representative, Gary Fox, Quinte Conservation’s Source Protection Committee is pleased to announce the renaming of the Drinking Water Protection Radio Contest to the Gary Fox Drinking Water Protection Contest.

Gary Fox was a founding member of the Quinte Source Protection Committee and played a valuable role in the development of the Quinte Source Protection Plan, serving on the committee until his passing. He was a proud and passionate communicator, who strongly supported source water protection and the committee’s goal of ensuring that the drinking water tragedy which arose in Walkerton would never occur again.

Gary Fox had over 30 years of public service experience across municipal, county, and provincial levels, including serving as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 1999; he was educated at the University of Guelph and completed its Advanced Agriculture Leadership Program. He has held numerous leadership and founding roles in local agricultural and environmental organizations. In addition to his public service, Gary was the Senior Partner of Fox Farms, a diversified farming operation in Bloomfield.

Gary supported efforts to protect drinking water sources beyond those identified under the Clean Water Act, by promoting source water protection in rural Ontario communities, demonstrating his concern for the needs of rural communities. The Quinte Source Protection Committee was fortunate to work alongside Gary Fox and hopes this renaming will help honour and preserve his legacy for years to come.