NEW YORK CITY, NY — NBC Universal has announced the first event of "Earth Week," its twice-yearly celebration of and focus on environmental issues. In partnership with Etsy, the online craft and artwork community, NBCU is launching its "Art of Reuse" contest, urging people to create handcrafted items from repurposed materials.

The products entered in the contest to date, including jewelry, pet toys and wall decorations, like the one shown above from Liz Coz, will be voted on by the online communities of Etsy and NBCU, and judged by a panel of celebrities including Martha Stewart, Tori Spelling and Kathie Lee Gifford. The winners of the contest will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Fla., and the top 10 finalists will be featured throughout Earth Week on the Today Show.

"We're excited to partner with Etsy and their design-savvy community to engage a wider audience around the universal practice of reuse," Beth Colleton, VP of Green is Universal, said in a statement. "Raising environmental awareness and activating consumers around eco-friendly initiatives is a key goal for Green is Universal. This is a fun way to illustrate the numerous ways to give objects a second life, and we're looking forward to seeing the creations that consumers will come up with." Reuse and upcycling are themes of this year's Earth Week, making the partnership with Etsy a natural fit. And according to the results of a poll released last week by NBCU's Green is Universal, reuse is becoming more popular among the public.

Half of the survey's respondents said they'd be willing ot pay more for a product that has multiple functions, and 74 percent said they would rather adapt a product to a new use than throw it away. In addition to recycling, 67 percent said they are increasing the amount of reuse they do in their daily lives, whether it's making new products out of items they no longer want or reusing or repurposing items rather than throw them away.

Earth Week is one of two annual events NBCU uses to raise environmental awareness among its employees and audience. Last fall, during the fourth annual Green Week, NBCU focused on alternative energy, green investments and other environmental topics. And earlier this year, the GreenBiz editorial staff interviewed Beth Colleton about NBCU's overarching green initiatives.

For more on the Art of Reuse contest, visit GreenIsUni.com.