OSAKA, Japan - Friday, August 28th 2015 [ME NewsWire]
(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Panasonic Corporation announced that Montfort College of Thailand won the Grand Prix for its video "Blind's Diary" in the Panasonic Kid Witness News (KWN) Global Contest 2015. The students from Montfort College were honored at the awards ceremony held in Singapore on August 26. Students from other finalist schools also attended the ceremony, where they were recognized with category awards, including "Best Concept."
[Flash Report] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPPYBZ7rjXQ
The seven finalist videos focused on topics ranging from impact and interactions through social media, earthquake disasters, to interactions with family members and others. The Grand Prix winning video, which is based on a true story, portrays a visually impaired girl who attends a regular school. While worrying about burdening other students, she overcomes her struggles at school and eventually accepts her situation, which enables her to achieve academic results with her friends’ support. The video conveys a strong message of mutual support to achieve dreams in a diverse society.
KWN is a hands-on video education program that Panasonic operates as part of its efforts to support education. The company lends video cameras and other production equipment to elementary and middle schools participating in the program. Currently, some 5,000 children and teachers around the world are taking part in the program. Since the program began in the United States in 1989, more than 175,000 children have participated.
2015 marks the first time KWN Global Contest Awards Ceremony is held in Southeast Asia. The event, which coincides with Singapore’s 50th anniversary of its independence, was attended by Mr. Toru Nishida, Managing Director, Panasonic Asia Pacific, as well as dignitaries including Mr. Hawazi Daipi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Manpower of Singapore; Mr. Ng Ser Miang, member of the International Olympic Committee and Chairman of the Finance Commission; Mr. Duane Kale, Governing Board Member, the International Paralympic Committee; and Mr. Mark Wallace, Head of Production, the Olympic Broadcasting Services
From this year’s application, Panasonic, an Official Worldwide Olympic partner and an Official worldwide Paralympic Partner, will add "sports" to the list of themes of KWN Global Contest, in addition to the existing themes of “ecology” and “communication,” to stimulate children’s interest in sports. The KWN program honors the video works created by children every year. To produce videos, students choose a theme on their own and then handle all aspects of video-making, from planning and scripting to filming and editing. This year, 553 schools from 19 countries and regions participate in this program. For this KWN Global Contest 2015, the schools submitted five-minute videos themed about either ecology or communication.
This year's Grand Prize winner and the other finalists’ videos can be viewed on the following websites: - KWN Global Contest 2015: http://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/kwn/contest2015/
■ Summary of the seven award-winning videos
(Listed by country in alphabetical order)
Prize
Country/Name of School Video Title
Theme Category/Synopsis
Grand Prix & Best Concept
[Thailand] Montfort College
Communication:
A visually impaired girl attends a non-special-needs school and, while worrying about burdening other students, she overcomes struggles at school and eventually accepts herself and achieves academic results with her friends’ support.
Blind's Diary
Best Storytelling
[China] Beijing Haidian Wanquan Primary School
Communication:
A girl, who lost her mother, lives with her father, stepmother and stepsister. She feels she doesn’t belong to the family as no one celebrates her birthday. The video appeals the importance of providing children with love and affection of the family.
Happy Birthday
Best Witness
[Germany] Secondary School Isernhagen
Communication:
This documentary focusing on a traveling circus family shows their unique lifestyle, different from that of ordinary people, through daily lives of circus performers and their children, and backstage scenes.
Living Differently - Circus Mulan
Global Citizen
[Japan]
Nakoso 1st
Junior High School
Communication:
Fukushima is still under the influence of Great East Japan Earthquake that hit the area four years ago. Middle school students in the region learn the importance of connecting with others through participation in a charity relay marathon in Tokyo and activities to support Fukushima.
Run! Nako-ichi Run!...
for Fukushima
Contemporary Imagery
[Malaysia] Benoni Secondary School Papar, Sabah, Malaysia
Communication:
A teenage girl gradually gets addicted to taking selfies with her mobile phone, spending many hours every day. That leads to a drastic change in her personality, then results in an incident. The video conveys a message that you should accept the way you are, not how you look in photos.
JUST CLICK IT
Creative Media
[Singapore] Clementi Town Secondary School
Communication:
The video shows interviews with students and college professors, exploring how people perceive their self-worth through their persona on social media. It warns against putting too much focus on social media. The video combines animation and live action.
Social ME-dia
Best Editing
[United States of America] Val Verde High School
Communication:
A teenage girl goes through a mysterious experience while falling in love with a boy whom she met through SNS. The video brings awareness to the dangers of friendship social networking sites, with which many teenagers are obsessed.
FACE TO FACE
■ About Panasonic Kid Witness News KWN got its start in 1989 in the U.S. as a hands-on video education program supported by Panasonic North America, which supplied video cameras and editing equipment to public elementary and middle schools to make news programs from the perspective of children. The program was subsequently expanded on a global scale. This year, 553 schools from 19 countries and regions participate in the program.
KWN is designed to foster creativity and presentation skills among young students. Supervising teachers cite further merits of the program such as a heightened awareness of the environment and the community as well as development of team skills among participants through the process of creating videos. The global network of KWN schools also provides a platform for international exchange among KWN students.
19 countries and regions participating in KWN
(Countries listed in alphabetical order)
North America Canada, United States
Central and South America Chile
Europe Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia
Middle and Near East Iraq, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates
Asia China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
Oceania New Zealand
About Panasonic Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development of diverse electronics technologies and solutions for customers in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, enterprise solutions and device industries. Since its founding in 1918, the company has expanded globally and now operates 468 subsidiaries and 94 associated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of 7.715 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2015. Committed to pursuing new value through innovation across divisional lines, the company uses its technologies to create a better life and a better world for its customers. To learn more about Panasonic: http://www.panasonic.com/global
Related Links: [VIDEO] KWN interviews: https://vimeo.com/kwnglobaloffice
[MORE PHOTOS]: KWN Global Contest 2015 Awards Ceremony in Singapore: https://plus.google.com/photos/102894371789579256396/albums/6187246327256618897
Panasonic Newsroom Global: http://news.panasonic.com/global/
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=51170624&lang=en
Contacts
Media Contact:
Panasonic Corporation
Global Communications Department
Media Promotion Office
+81-3-3574-5729
presscontact@ml.jp.panasonic.com
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