Osaka, Japan - Panasonic Corporation announced the Grand Prix winners of the Kid Witness News (KWN) and Eco Picture Diary (EPD) global contests at the Panasonic Kids School Global Awards Ceremony 2013, held at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on December 5, 2013. KWN and EPD are part of the Panasonic Kids School Program, and this is the first time an award ceremony for both the KWN and EPD contests have been held together. In addition to the Grand Prix, the winners in 10 other categories in both programs were also announced.
At the award ceremony, Mechtild Rossler, the Deputy Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, made a welcome speech to the children, and the trophies and award certificates were awarded to the winners.
In this year's KWN contest, pieces created from the unique perspective of children covering topics such as child labor and bringing hope to life were selected for the final stage of judging. Out of these, Mount Aspiring College, a junior high school in New Zealand, was selected as the Grand Prix winner for their video "Forever Emily", which was highly appraised for the high level of planning involved in the project as well as the filming and editing techniques used.
In this year's EPD contest, there were many entries that colorfully expressed the eco activities thought up and carried out by the children themselves and highlighted their interest in the conservation of the environment. The Grand Prix winner of the contest was Ádám Riba of Hungary. His diary was praised for demonstrating a high level of eco-awareness for preserving the environment in the unique form of a pop-up book.
In June 2013, Panasonic renewed its strategic partnership agreement with UNESCO. Panasonic will continue to work to help foster eco awareness among children worldwide in line with the partnership agreement with UNESCO.
For further information on the other five category awards, please view the sites below:
KWN Global Site
http://panasonic.net/kwn/contest2013/
Eco Picture Diary Global Site
http://panasonic.co.jp/ad/pks/global/eco/en/contest2013/world/
Related Sites
Panasonic Kids School for Developing the Next Generation
http://panasonic.net/citizenship/education/
Panasonic Kids School Kid Witness News
http://panasonic.net/kwn/
Panasonic Kids School Eco Picture Diary
http://panasonic.co.jp/ad/pks/global/ecorelay/index.html
Panasonic x World Heritage Site
http://panasonic.net/promotion/worldheritage/
Reference
Panasonic Kids School
With the concept slogan "When kids shine, so will our future," Panasonic is committed to supporting the development, dreams and futures of the next generation by providing the opportunity for children to learn and discover through the internet as well as events held all over the world.
Panasonic also conducts a variety of educational programs worldwide including the Eco Picture Diary Contest, the Global Eco Learning Program and UNESCO World Heritage Eco Learning Program under the umbrella scheme of "Panasonic Kids School".
Panasonic Kid Witness News
KWN is a hands-on video education program designed to help children develop creativity and communication skills through the use of video. Panasonic provides video cameras and other equipment to participating primary and middle schools across the globe for their video productions. At present, 622 schools from 29 countries and regions are participating in the program. The children proactively do everything from choosing the theme to editing the video. Since the program began in 1989 in the United States, it has developed into a global program with around 10,000 students and teachers participating each year. To date, more than 170,000 students and teachers around the world have participated in this unique program.
(*listed alphabetically)
| North America | Canada, the United States of America |
|---|---|
| Central and South America | Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Panama, Peru |
| Europe | Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom |
| Middle and Near East | Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the United Arab Emirates |
| Asia | China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam |
| Oceania | New Zealand |
Eco Picture Diary Contest
The Eco Picture Diary is a global next-generation program run by Panasonic in which children write picture diaries on their activities and thoughts about environmental preservation. Panasonic started the Eco Picture Diary Contest in Japan in 2008 and since then, it has spread rapidly worldwide. Approximately 300,000 children from 47 countries and regions took part in the program this year.
(*listed alphabetically)
| Central and South America | Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama |
|---|---|
| Europe | Austria, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom |
| Middle and Near East | Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates |
| Africa | Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria |
| Asia | Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam |
About Panasonic
Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development and engineering of electronic technologies and solutions for customers in residential, non-residential, mobility and personal applications. Since its founding in 1918, the company has expanded globally and now operates over 500 consolidated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of 7.30 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2013. Committed to pursuing new value through innovation across divisional lines, the company strives to create a better life and a better world for its customers. For more information about Panasonic, please visit the company's website at http://panasonic.net/.
Media Contacts:
- Tokyo Public Relations Office
Panasonic Corporation - Tel: +81-(0)3-3574-5664 Fax: +81-(0)3-3574-5699
- Panasonic News Bureau
- Tel: +81-(0)3-3542-6205 Fax: +81-(0)3-3542-9018
