The Student Jury awarded The Carbon Connection along with three other films in a special category that focusses in the relationship between humans and the environment for viewing and evaluation by the Student Jury, composed by a class of 24 students of a Local High School.

They stated, "The manner in which the subject of pollution was approached; that is, underlining that the current crisis concerns more than just so-called 'developed' countries. The jury was also struck by the way local people from the two communities compared in the film were allowed to express themselves directly, using a type of 'home video' style to describe their problems. For example, the Scottish people show the Brasilians how a refinery and a minin company cause illness and respiratory problems in the residents of the near city. In turn, the Brasilians illustrate how eucalyptus plantations, cultivated in order to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, actually disturb the delicate natural ecosystem, polluting the water table, changing traditional agricultural practies and the local economy, and causing the extiction of several autoctonous plant species."