Press release -
Documentary about the visually impaired by Thai students wins Panasonic Kid Witness News Global Contest 2015
26 August 2015, Singapore – Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic) today 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 recognised with category awards. The team from Clementi Town Secondary School of Singapore clinched the "Creative Media” award with its production “Social ME-dia” as they explored the way youth perceive their self-worth through their persona on social media. This is the first time the ceremony is held in Southeast Asia
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 academically 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 programme that Panasonic organises as part of its efforts to support education. The company lends video cameras and other broadcast and video production equipment to participating primary and secondary schools. Since the programme began in the United States in 1989, more than 175,000 children have participated.
Toru Nishida, Managing Director, Panasonic Asia Pacific commented, "What we have always hoped to do for the Panasonic Kid Witness News educational programme is encourage youths to care deeply about social issues; making their opinions count through video journalism. It is really inspiring to see the world through their eyes. This year’s KWN award ceremony is also a special event for us. We are proud to host guests from around the world in Singapore for the very first time in conjunction with the nation’s Golden Jubilee.”
Hawazi Daipi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Manpower, added, “Children are expressive, often bursting with exciting ideas. Experiential learning programmes, such as Panasonic’s Kid Witness News, provide the opportunity for them to explore their creativity and communicate their ideas and thoughts through videos. This helps to create a more robust learning environment beyond textbooks and classrooms.”
From this year, 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 programme 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 programme. For this KWN Global Contest 2015, the schools submitted five-minute videos on 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
- Channel Panasonic: http://channel.panasonic.com/
- Photos from award ceremony: http://bit.ly/panasonickwn2015
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 | Montfort College Blind's Diary | Communication: A visually impaired girl attends a non-special-needs school and, while worryingabout burdening other students, she overcomes struggles at school and eventually accepts herself and achieves academic results with her friends’ support. |
| Best Storytelling | Beijing Haidian Wanquan Primary School Happy Birthday | 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 ofproviding children with love and affection of the family. |
| Best Witness | Secondary School Isernhagen Living Differently - Circus Mulan | 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. |
| Best Global Citizen | Nakoso 1st Junior High School Run! Nako-ichi Run!... for Fukushima | 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. |
| Best Contemporary Imagery | Benoni Secondary School Papar, Sabah, Malaysia JUST CLICK IT | 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 inan incident. The video conveys a message that you should accept the way you are, not how you look in photos. |
| Best Creative Media | Clementi Town Secondary School Social ME-dia | 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. |
| Best Editing | Val Verde High School FACE TO FACE | 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. |
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Topics
- Social issues
Categories
- corporate
- csr
- sustainability
- kwn
- singapore
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
About Panasonic Asia Pacific
Panasonic Asia Pacific provides the whole range of the brand’s products and solutions across the Southeast Asia and Oceania (APAC) region, covering 27 countries including 10 offices in Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Based in Singapore, Panasonic Asia Pacific regional headquarters focuses on creating A Better Life, A Better World by promoting its Business-to-Business portfolio while maintaining solid Business-to-Consumer growth. The region has 40 manufacturing sites, supporting Panasonic’s global production activities in the housing, agriculture, energy solutions, appliances, components and devices sectors.
