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Muscatine and Marion Students Submit Winning Videos

JOHNSTON, IOWA – The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) today announced that Alli Berns, Ana Arzate, and Sariah Garrido of Muscatine won first place in IRFA’s 3rd Annual “Fuel the Future” Video Contest for Iowa high school students. The IRFA awarded the team of Muscatine High School seniors a $1,000 grand prize for its highly entertaining and informative video titled “Fuel the Future,” which beat out 37 other entries.

Second place, and winner of a $600 prize, was awarded to Sam Fathallah of Marion, Iowa for his video entitled, “Why You Should Use Ethanol 15.” Fathallah is an eleventh grader at Linn-Mar High School.

Third place was awarded to Drew Laviada-Garmon and Tiler Lemkau of Muscatine for their “Gangnam Style” spoof entitled, “E15 Style.” The two Muscatine High School seniors won $400 for their video.

“The renewable fuels industry needs to look no further than the IRFA YouTube page for its next big promotional video,” stated IRFA Communications Director T.J. Page. “The IRFA congratulates the ‘Fuel the Future’ winners as well as each of the Iowa high school students who took on the challenge of entering this contest.”

IRFA’s “Fuel the Future” video contest challenges Iowa high school students to create the best video highlighting the importance and benefits of renewable fuels—such as ethanol and biodiesel—to local communities, Iowa and the nation. In addition to receiving $2,000 in prizes, the top three videos were featured at today’s 7th Annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit. All of the contest entries are posted on IRFA’s YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/IowaRenewableFuels

The first place winner can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDKlGAFPx0

The second place winner can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucGZRhttMew

The third place winner can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YykkLxLB4KI

The contest was sponsored by the law firm of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.

Iowa is the leader in renewable fuels production.  Iowa has 12 biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce nearly 315 million gallons annually. In addition, Iowa has 41 ethanol refineries capable of producing over 3.7 billion gallons annually, with one wet mill and two cellulosic ethanol facilities currently under construction.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association was formed in 2002 to represent the state’s liquid renewable fuels industry. The trade group fosters the development and growth of the renewable fuels industry in Iowa through education, promotion, legislation and infrastructure development.