Winners Chosen For MARVEL’S “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY”—GUARDIANS OF GOOD Contest

Disney announced today the five winners of the MARVEL’S “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY”—GUARDIANS OF GOOD nationwide contest, which accepted applications from young men and women, ages 14-18, from June 11-June 29, 2014. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Marvel Studios, Dolby® Laboratories and Visa Signature joined forces to support the contest in conjunction with the August 1, 2014 release of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket.

The five winners are:

• Yash Balaji
  Age 16, from Pennington, New Jersey
  Yash is making the galaxy a better place with his invention of the “Clean Bottle”—a self-contained water filtration and purification system. Just by holding it, the “Clean Bottle” uses UV LED lights to kill harmful bacteria to create clean, drinkable water.

• Nailah Ellis
  Age 18, from Marietta, Georgia
  Nailah visits children’s hospitals in handmade hero costumes to inspire ill children. Nailah formed her own service costuming organization called “Heroes In Real Life” which aims to bring the enthusiasm and inspiration of Super Heroes to kids in need.

• Greer Gates
  Age 17, from Poulsbo, Washington
  Greer created “My Jewels of Hope,” which creates and sells bracelets, ornaments and accessories to raise money for ovarian cancer. She has raised over $80,000, spent over 5,000 hours volunteering and has over 300 volunteers who assist with her project.

• Nicholas Lowinger
  Age 16, from Cranston, Rhode Island
  Nicholas created a project to donate new shoes to homeless children. The “Gotta Have Sole Foundation” has distributed nearly 17,000 pairs of shoes in 32 states. His interest in helping homeless children began at age 5 when his parents took him to visit a homeless shelter.

• Sanika Subhash
  Age 16, from Gainesville, Florida
  Sanika conducted a scientific study of Coquina, a very rare and unique rock with the ability to absorb impacts from cannonballs and bullets. She hopes that her research can be used to develop innovative blast-resistant building materials that can be used to protect structures during wars or terrorist attacks.

Applicants for the MARVEL’S “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY”—GUARDIANS OF GOOD contest were asked to share their stories of how they are bettering their communities through service, science or innovation. The applicants participated in online sessions with Peer Guides, who included representatives from generationOn, Broadcom MASTERS®, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” Ultimate Mentor Leadership Council. The Peer Guides discussed their personal stories of service, science or innovation as well as learnings and advice.

Following the Peer Guide sessions, all applicants submitted a short video explaining how they are improving the galaxy and what inspiration and guidance they received from their Peer Guides. The five best video entries were selected by generationOn as winners.

The five winners each receive: Two round-trip tickets to Hollywood for the winner and his or her parent or guardian, including hotel accommodations, from July 20 through July 23, 2014, to be on the red carpet at the World Premiere of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” on July 21, 2014; an invitation to the first-ever GUARDIANS OF GOOD INNOVATION & SERVICE SUMMIT on July 22 at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, where professionals and peers will share their knowledge; a backstage tour of the Disneyland® Resort; and a red-carpet screening of the film at a Dolby® Atmos™ Theatre in or near their hometown.

All of the winners will also receive an Amazon Kindle Fire™ HD, equipped with Dolby® Digital Plus™, provided by Dolby to capture their experiences while they are in California.

The GUARDIANS OF GOOD INNOVATION & SERVICE SUMMIT will include professionals representing NASA/JPL, Walt Disney Imagineers, Dolby and generationOn. Winners will participate alongside these professionals in interactive sessions that foster life skills and provide valuable resources the winners can use in the future growth of their projects.

About Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy”:

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's “Guardians of the Galaxy” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits—Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand—with the galaxy's fate in the balance.

Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which first appeared in comic books in Marvel Super-Heroes, Issue #18 (Jan. 1969), stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime and Benicio Del Toro as The Collector.

James Gunn is the director of the film with Kevin Feige, p.g.a. producing, and Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Jeremy Latcham, Nik Korda and Stan Lee serving as executive producers. James Gunn and Nicole Perlman wrote the screenplay. Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” releases in U.S. theaters on August 1, 2014.

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit marvel.com. © MARVEL

About Dolby Atmos

Dolby Atmos makes it easy for filmmakers to place or move specific sounds anywhere in the movie theatre, including overhead. As a result of this multi-dimensional sound, audiences feel as if they are inside the film, not merely watching it.

Introduced in April 2012, Dolby Atmos has been embraced by all the major Hollywood studios, seven Academy Award® winning directors, and 16 Academy Award® winning sound mixers, among others. More than 650 Dolby Atmos screens have been installed or committed to in more than 40 countries with more than 150 exhibitor partners. More than 120 films from 12 different countries have been or are scheduled to be released with Dolby Atmos sound since the first film debuted in June 2012.

Dolby Atmos has received technical achievement awards from both the Hollywood Post Alliance and the Cinema Audio Society. As the inventors of the only object-based audio format used in the cinema today, Dolby is working closely with the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers in driving adoption of standards for object-based audio.

For the latest list of Dolby Atmos titles, visit dolby.com/atmosmovies. To learn more about Dolby Atmos, visit fandango.com/dolby.

About Dolby Laboratories

Dolby Laboratories (NYSE: DLB) creates audio, video, and voice technologies that transform entertainment and communications in mobile devices, at the cinema, at home, and at work. For nearly 50 years, sight and sound experiences have become more vibrant, clear, and powerful in Dolby®. For more information, please visit: dolby.com.

About Visa

Visa Signature is a proud sponsor of the theatrical release of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy”. Visa Signature cardholders get access to exclusive movie ticket offers to movies like Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” at www.Fandango.com/VisaSignature. Visa Signature is a premium consumer payment card bringing cardholders benefits and perks that are important to them, and provide everyday value to enhance cardholder experiences. Benefits include complimentary 24-hour Visa Signature Concierge service, exclusive travel perks from the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection, special fine wine and food experiences, and discounts at premium retailers. For more information, visit www.visa.com/signature.

About generationOn

generationOn is the youth and family service division of Points of Light, igniting the power of kids, teens and families to make their mark on the world. generationOn inspires, equips and mobilizes over 750,000 kids and teens annually to take action through service, service learning and youth leadership initiatives. It also provides tools and resources to kids, teens, families, youth practitioners and educators to help kids change the world and themselves through service. For more information, visit www.generationon.org.

About Broadcom Foundation

Broadcom Foundation was founded to inspire and enable young people throughout the world to enter careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through partnerships with local schools, colleges, universities and non-profit organizations. Broadcom Foundation is the proud sponsor of the Broadcom MASTERS®, a program of Society for Science & the Public - a science and engineering competition for middle school children. The Foundation's mission is to advance education in STEM by funding research, recognizing scholarship and increasing opportunity. Learn more at www.broadcomfoundation.org.

About Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages missions to Mars, asteroids, and other bodies in the solar system, as well as Earth-observing satellites and space-based astronomy on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. JPL has numerous opportunities for students to get involved in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Learn more at jpl.nasa.gov.