Jul 27, 2010
Press Release
Kid Witness News Global Contest 2010 Grand Prix Goes to Australia
Tokyo, Japan - Australia's Mundingburra State School has taken the Grand Prix for their work titled The Global Warming Rap at the Panasonic Kid Witness News (KWN) Global Contest 2010 Awards Ceremony held today. Representatives from finalist schools from six countries were in attendance at the ceremony where they were also recognized in category awards such as editing and videography.
KWN is a hands-on video educational program designed for elementary and middle school children, which Panasonic operates as part of its efforts to help educate young children. This year KWN is celebrating its 21st anniversary, and since the program began in 1989, more than 130,000 children have participated accumulatively, with around 10,000 children participating this year.
This year's KWN Global Contest saw 630 schools from 23 countries/region take part, crafting five-minute videos based on the themes of ecology and communication. These videos were reviewed and voted on by local judges of KWN offices around the world with the top six works nominated as finalists. In the final review, a panel of international judges including experts in film-making, education, and journalism screened the works to determine the Grand Prix and category awards.
A list of the six works that made it to the final round of judging can be found on the following page. Representatives from finalist schools attended the Awards Ceremony held today at Panasonic Center Tokyo.
The Grand Prix winner, The Global Warming Rap, is a video that features kids dressed as penguins rapping about the dangers of global warming and the impact of humankind's wasteful use of resources.
The six finalist videos were also reviewed by the public on the Internet for online voting to decide most favorite. Pier 21 Gateway of Hope, a video created by students at Grosvenor Wentworth Park School of Canada won the Web Award by receiving the most votes on the web.
KWN Global Contest 2010 Award Winners
| Award | Country/School | Title/Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Prix & Creative Concept Award |
Australia Mundingburra State School |
“The Global Warming Rap” The Earth is weakening because of mankind's selfish waste of resources. It won't survive much longer if we don't make a change! Children, disguised as penguins, rap a warning message for everyone to hear. |
| Hometown Documentary Award & Web Award |
Canada Grosvenor Wentworth Park School |
“Pier 21 Gateway of Hope” Canada admitted many immigrants in the 1950s through the 1960s. The gateway for these immigrants, who landed with both hopes and fears, was the Pier 21 in Halifax. This video takes a look at the roots of Canadian immigrants through a drama set during that period. |
| Global Citizenship Award | U.K. Testbourne Community School (middle school) |
“Dansez What You Can't Sez” This video is a report on a special education school at which dance has been incorporated as part of communication education. Along with teacher interviews, this video showcases children who express themselves through dance. |
| Best Videography Award | Malaysia King George V Secondary School (middle school) |
“Our Precious Water” Where does our drinking water come from? This video follows a small boat travelling down a river in Malaysia. The boat discovers that while the water upstream is clean and rich in nature, the water downstream is getting polluted... |
| Best Editing Award | China Beijing Wanquan Primary School |
“Be here with you!” “My friend's mother is the principal. Everyone respects her. But my mom...” The girl finds herself telling a lie from embarrassment. How does her mother react to this? |
| Best Research Award | Japan Ida Elementary School, Okazaki City School, Aichi Prefecture |
“CHANGE - Starting Now” The port near a sister school may become completely submerged due to global warming. What can be done to save not only the port but the Earth as a whole? Children think of things that they can do to help stop global warming. |
All of the above works can be viewed at the Web site: http://panasonic.net/kwn/
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.
Media Contacts:
- Overseas Public Relations Office
- Panasonic Corporation
- Tel: 03-6403-3040
- Fax: 03-3436-6766
- Panasonic News Bureau
- Tel: 03-3542-6205
- Fax: 03-3542-9018
About Kid Witness News
KWN got its start in 1989 in the U.S. as an educational program of then Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, which supplied video cameras and editing equipment to public elementary and middle schools for them to make news programs that adopted a child's perspective. The program was subsequently expanded to encompass all 50 states, and then in recent years grew on a global scale. At present, around 630 schools from 24 countries and regions are participants in the program.
KWN is 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-work skills among participants.
The Panasonic companies are conducting businesses throughout the world, providing products and services under the slogan of "Panasonic ideas for life." Panasonic has been making efforts to become a company that is accepted by each community in which it is present, by contributing to economic development of each country. The company as a global enterprise has been also taking initiatives to promote mutual understanding in the international community and help to protect the global environment.
In the hopes of promoting the sound development of children and mutual understanding among the world's peoples, Panasonic will continue in its work to promote and expand KWN activities in the future.
Countries/regions participating in KWN, 24 in all
| North America | Canada, U.S.A. |
|---|---|
| Central and South America | Brazil, Mexico, Peru |
| Europe | Austria, U.K, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland |
| Middle and Near East | United Arab Emirates |
| Asia | China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam |
| Oceania | Australia, New Zealand |
For further details regarding KWN, please refer to the following websites.
| General KWN activities: | http://panasonic.co.jp/kwn/ (Japanese page) |
| Web voting site: | http://panasonic.net/kwn/ (English only) |
Information on Panasonic's social contribution activities including KWN: http://panasonic.co.jp/cca/kwnjp/
Banner area begins from here.
The content in this website is accurate at the time of publication but may be subject to change without notice.
Please note therefore that these documents may not always contain the most up-to-date information.
Please note that German, French and Chinese versions are machine translations, so the quality and accuracy may vary.
