Nebraska State Treasurer Don Stenberg and First National Bank of Omaha announced today the NEST Big Dreams Video Contest that will run Oct.1-31, offering a $10,000 scholarship into a Nebraska Educational Savings Trust (NEST) 529 account as a grand prize in addition to other prizes, all totaling more than $18,000.
The NEST Big Dreams Video Contest gives families the opportunity to submit a video, 60 seconds or less, featuring a child expressing his or her “big dreams.” Entries will feature children’s unique thoughts or ideas about their big dreams, recorded in video format. Children featured in video entries must be 8 years old or younger. To enter and to read official rules, families can go to NESTBigDreams.com (official scholarship contest rules can be found at link at top of this page).
“The NEST Big Dreams Video Contest provides an exciting opportunity for families to engage their children in talking about their big dreams for the future,” said Deborah Goodkin, Managing Director of NEST at First National Bank of Omaha, the NEST Program Manager. “Our hope is that families enjoy creating big dreams videos and begin thinking about saving for college to help make real-life aspirations possible.”
“Realizing the creativity and technical abilities of children today, I look forward to viewing the children’s videos and to learning about their big dreams for their futures. At NEST, we encourage children to dream big and parents and grandparents to plan for those dreams by starting early to save for college,” said Treasurer Stenberg, Trustee of NEST. “This contest enables children to express their dreams in new ways and to display their unique personalities and perspectives.”
The NEST Big Dreams Video Contest offers the largest grand prize of the NEST scholarships presented each year. In addition to a $10,000 grand prize, a first runner-up will receive $5,000 into a NEST account and a second runner-up will receive $2,500 in to a NEST account. The scholarships will be awarded to the entrant and deposited into an account owned by the Nebraska Educational Savings Trust, held on behalf of the winner. In addition to the scholarships, the first 25 people to enter the contest will be eligible to receive a $25 bonus into a NEST account. Winners of the contest will be notified and announced by Dec. 5.
The NEST Big Dreams Video Contest is inspired by the NEST Big Dreams campaign, which is designed to get families of young children thinking about the future and saving for higher education to help make their children’s dreams a reality. Money for the prizes is being provided by First National Bank of Omaha.
About First National Bank of Omaha
First National Bank of Omaha is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska. First National of Nebraska and its affiliates have more than $23 billion in assets and 5,000 employee associates. Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.
About NEST
NEST is a tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan and provides four plans to help make saving for college simple and affordable: NEST Direct College Savings Plan, the NEST Advisor College Savings Plan, the Bloomwell 529 Education Savings Plan, and the State Farm 529 Savings Plan. The Nebraska State Treasurer serves as Program Trustee. Union Bank & Trust Company serves as Program Manager, and all investments are approved by the Nebraska Investment Council. Families nationwide are saving for college using Nebraska’s 529 College Savings Plans, which have more than 285,000 accounts, including over 94,000 in Nebraska. Visit NEST529.com and treasurer.nebraska.gov for more information.
