The fight for Rotorua's water purity: 'This is our stream and our responsibility'

Eamon Walsh, David Harrison and Joshua Richardson are students at John Paul College in Rotorua. This video won the top prize in the Film, 15-18 years category in the 2016 Young Reporters for the Environment awards. Scroll down for more information about the awards.

This story was published through a partnership between Keep New Zealand Beautiful and NZME, owner of the Herald.

The partnership aims to promote the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) programme.

The international programme was established by the Denmark-based Foundation for Environmental Education in 1994 and launched in New Zealand last year by Keep New Zealand Beautiful.

The youth-led programme is found in over 30 countries with more than 77,000 young reporters.

To enter students have to investigate an environmental issue, research a solution, then report on it using film, photography or writing.

Category winners in the 2016 awards received a prize package including a camera, a day in the Herald newsroom and having their entry published on nzherald.co.nz.

Keep New Zealand Beautiful education manager Christine White said the 2017 awards will focus on litter by adopting the Litter Less Camaign.

New Zealand schools will be paired with schools from another country so students can discuss their projects, talk about challenges and share knowledge with foreign students.

"Litter is a great theme to start working on environmental issues with students. It is visible and it is easy to see the improvements. Like the YRE programme, the YRE Litter Less Campaign aims to find and then report solutions through articles, photographs and videos."

Keep New Zealand Beautiful is taking expressions of interest from schools who want to know more about the YRE Litter Less Campaign. Entries close in July.

For more information visit: www.knzb.org.nz/yre.