True Story of Sexual Abuse & Suicide by Sembawang Secondary Tops Panasonic KWN Video Competition

SINGAPORE, 11-11-11 – Panasonic Singapore announced the winners of the 2011 Panasonic Kid Witness News (KWN) competition today.  Last year’s winner, Sembawang Secondary School sweeps the awards again, winning the top award for the second year running.  They also won two other trophies, the Spotlight (Best Education Content) and Clipper (Best Editing) awards.

Sembawang Secondary’s video, titled, “The First Appearance of Light”, took top honours out of a field of 81 entries from 42 schools.  Behind the innocuous-sounding title lies a dark secret shared between two sisters.  This is slowly unveiled as the truth dawns upon the viewer in an emotionally gripping account of sexual abuse and suicide.  The five-minute video, based on an actual event, was scripted, shot, and edited by secondary two and three students, aged 14-15 years old. Three of them were in the 2010 team that went to Hollywood for the global finals in July this year.  They are Calvin Leong, Logayashini Ragumathan and Santiana Shalyni Subramaniam – all aged 15 years.

The judges, comprising a panel of industry veterans were startled by the emotional intensity and sophisticated techniques wielded by students so young.

“The video takes an unconventional approach and employs the use of emotion to powerfully drive the importance of interpersonal communication,” says Mr Daniel Tan, director of Panasonic Singapore.  “We think they would be a strong contender for the Regional as well as the International awards.”

Overall, the judges were all taken in with the depth and quality of the submissions presented in this year’s contest.  The students were challenged to produce a 5-minute documentary exploring one of these two themes: environment or communication.   The breadth and depth of work produced far exceeded the judges’ expectations.  Other schools explored topics like the dangers of social networking, and explored the decline of Chinese dialects in Singapore.  

Guest of Honour Mr Hawazi Daipi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Education , presented the Top News Production Award to Sembawang Secondary School.  As the top winner, Sembawang Secondary will go on to represent Singapore in the regional round of awards.

Their entry will also be considered for the international round at the 2012 KWN Global Contest Grand Prix, to be held in August 2012.

In July this year, Sembawang Secondary made history by being the first Singapore team, and one of only six, to qualify for the International round held in Hollywood.

Note to editor: See attached list of winners and synopses of their entries.

See the videos here - http://panasonic.com.sg/kwn

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About Kid Witness News

KWN was created in 1989 by Panasonic Corporation of North America as a hands-on video education program which supplied a curriculum and video cameras and editing equipment to public elementary and middle schools in New Jersey so students could create news programs from their unique perspective about issues. The program was subsequently expanded to encompass all 50 U.S. states, and then in recent years grew on a global scale, encompassing Europe, Southeast Asia and Japan. This year, 688 schools from 28 countries and regions are participating in the program. 

KWN was designed to foster creativity and presentation skills among 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 and covering the news. To learn more about the Kid Witness News program, please visit the Kid Witness News global website at http://panasonic.net/kwn.  You can also learn more about Panasonic’s wide range of global corporate citizenship initiatives by visiting http://panasonic.net/citizenship/.

This is the eighth year Panasonic Singapore is running the competition.

About Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of 7.42 trillion yen (US$79.4 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2010. The company's shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and New York (NYSE: PC) stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company's website at http://panasonic.net.

 imPRESSions Public Relations Pte Ltd

Email: kwn@impressions-pr.com

APPENDICES

KWN 2011 Winning Entries & Synopses

Awards:

The KWN Top News Production Award

The Spotlight Award

The Clipper Award

School: Sembawang Secondary School

Title: The First Appearance of Light

Teacher-in-charge: Mr Levine Ong

Team Members:

Maisarah Binte Mohamed Nassir (Sec 3, 15yrs old)

Leong Zhen Cong Calvin (Sec 3, 15yrs old)

Logayashini D/O Ragumathan (Sec 3, 15yrs old)

Muhd ‘Irfan Bin Mohd Rosdi (Sec 2, 14yrs old)

Santiana Shalyni Subramaniam (Sec 3, 15yrs old)

Synopsis: 

They were best friends. Sisters to be exact. The dark secret that is shared between them, ULTIMATELY LEADS to the death of Jane, the elder sister. Dawn is devastated BY THE LOSS OF HER BEST FRIEND AND IS FORCED TO FACE REALITY. Will the truth ever be told, or will the lie prevail…

Awards:

The Tune Award

Young Film-Maker Award

School: Chua Chu Kang Primary School

Title: The Litter Monster

Teacher-in-charge: Ms Nur Shahidah

Team Members:

Darren Lim Yong Long (Pri 4, 10yrs old)

Marcus Ko Hong Yao (Pri 4, 10yrs old)

Chin Ju Ming (Pri 5, 11yrs old)

Sanjena Suresh (Pri 5, 11yrs old)

Puvvada Meghana (Pri 5, 11yrs old)

Synopsis

Tom is a boy who loves to litter. It is his bad habit. He littered and was fined by a policeman. Unfortunately, his bad habit carries on at home. Slowly, the litter he threw under his bed built up and turned into a monster who wanted to eat him. Can he survive the little monster?

Award: The Journalist of Tomorrow Award

School: Clementi Town Secondary School

Title: Dialects – The Dying Lexicons of Singapore

Teacher-in-charge: Mr Chia Chun Kiat

Winner: Jiang Hao Lie (Sec 3, 15yrs old)

Synopsis: 

In Singapore, non-Mandarin Chinese languages, grouped together as “dialects”, are in their nadir. Years of government campaigns have persuaded the population to adopt English and Mandarin as their lingua franca. As a result, dialects are a dying language, their last vestiges heard rarely and mostly among elderly.

This video explores the reasons behind the decline in use of dialects, and features the efforts of Singapore Hainan Society in the preservation of their culture.

Award: Budding Journalist Award

School: North Spring Primary School

Title: We Love Our Wonderful Homeland

Teacher-in-charge: Mrs Chow Lee Kian

Winners:

Ng Xin Rong  (Pri 5, 11yrs old)

Marcus Chan Kai Xiang (Pri 5, 11yrs old)

Synopsis:

Singapore is known to be a clean and green city. This video depicts the learning journey of a group of students to the ENVision Gallery – interactive showcase of Singapore’s environmental history. At the ENVision Gallery, they not only went back in time to witness Singapore’s transformation from a city littered with waste to one that has a conducive environment to work and play. The students also conducted interviews with fellow citizens about how they think about Singapore’s environment. Through the interviews, they shared tips to encourage everyone to conserve our environment.

Award: Best Facilitator Award

Name / School: Ms Wong Peizi, Jurong Secondary School

Title: The Wheels of Flight

KWN 2011 FACT SHEET 

Kid Witness News (KWN) programme is a hands-on-video education programme established by Panasonic and has reached more than 120 cities worldwide. 

KWN is now into its 23^rd year and 2011 marks the 8^th time that it is held in Singapore.

Number of schools participating : 42 (17 primary schools).  Number of teams : 81

Regional countries participating include Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ORGANISED BY                               :  Panasonic Singapore

SUPPORTING PARTNER                  :  Media Development Authority

PARTICIPANTS                                :  5 Students (aged 10-15 years old) and 1 Teacher

MASTERPIECE CRITERIA                :  5 minutes production

THEME                                             :  Environment or Communications

AWARD CATEGORIES                       

Local

• KWN Top News Production Award* – Best Production
• The Journalist of Tomorrow Award – Best Presenter
• The Spotlight Award – Best Education Content
• The Tune Award – Best Sound Effect
• The Clipper Award – Best Editing
• Young Film-Maker Award – best entry in the Primary Category
• Budding Journalist Award – Most Promising Young Journalist in the Primary Category
• Best Facilitator

* Winner of KWN Top News Production Award will represent Singapore at the Regional and Global Levels.

Regional

• Best Script
• Best Editing
  • Best Presentation
  • Best Sound and Music
  • Most Original
  • Best Visuals
  • Best Overall
  • Regional Panasonic KWN 2011 Winner

Global

• Grand Prix Award
• Category Awards

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