Hong Kong and Thailand Students Win Grand Prix for Panasonic KWN Global Contest 2016 Held during the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

Osaka, Japan - Panasonic Corporation today announced that Kowloon Tong School of Hong Kong and Assumption Samutprakarn School of Thailand won the Grand Prix for their videos titled "The Bigger Picture" and "Missing Game," respectively, in the Panasonic Kid Witness News (KWN) Global Contest 2016. The students were honored at the awards ceremony held in Rio de Janeiro on September 15 during the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Students from the seven finalist schools representing six countries, including three finalists in the Primary School category and three in the Secondary School category as well as one representing the host country, Brazil, attended the ceremony, where they were acknowledged with category awards, including "Global Citizens Award" and "True Sportsmanship Award."

The seven finalist videos focused on issues closely linked to children's lives through the eyes of children, such as the interactions with family, refugees, physically challenged individuals and environment issues. In the Primary School category, the Hong Kong school won the Grand Prix for their video that depicted a young girl who learns a valuable lesson from her teacher in how to look at things from different perspectives, not just think about herself but about the bigger picture. In the Secondary School category the Thailand school focused on the impact of video games on children. By combining a unique drama set in the virtual world and interviews in the real world, this video conveys a strong message that real communication and interactions are important.

The KWN is a hands-on video education program that Panasonic operates as part of its efforts to support education. The company lends video cameras to primary and secondary schools participating in the program. For the KWN Global Contest 2016, 5,000 students from 371 schools in 12 countries took part in this competition. The global nine judges panel includes specialists in such fields as education and video production as well as this year's special guests from the International Paralympic Committee and the Olympic Broadcasting Services.

This year marks the first time KWN Global Contest Awards Ceremony was held in Latin America and with special support from the International Paralympic Committee. The event, which commemorates the Rio 2016 Paralympic year, was attended by Mr. Shigeo Suzuki, Regional Head for Latin America of Panasonic Corporation, as well as dignitaries including Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee, Mr. Mark Wallace, Chief Content Officer of the Olympic Broadcasting Services, and representatives of Rio 2016 Organising Committee and Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, and Brazilian Athletes.

Shigeo Suzuki commented, "We believe their voices, as expressed in their video creations, will inspire people to unite, take action and share our vision of 'A Better Life, A Better World'. Our hope is that this program will embolden our future generations to dream and to pursue their dreams."

For this year's contest, Panasonic, an Official Worldwide Olympic Partner and an Official Worldwide Paralympic Partner, added "Sports" to the list of themes of KWN Global Contest, in addition to the existing themes of "Environment" and "Communication," to stimulate children's interest in sports.

Touching on this year's special contest theme "Sports," Sir Philip Craven from the International Paralympic Committees gave the message: "Kid Witness News is a great initiative of our Worldwide Paralympic Partner Panasonic. With their help, thousands of young people around the world have been inspired and excited by the amazing performances of Paralympic athletes. It is another way in which Panasonic continues to help the Paralympic Movement with its aim to create a more inclusive society through sports."

Schools in Germany, the United States and Brazil submitted videos demonstrating the values of accepting diversity and humanitarian sportsmanship found in sports. The videos illustrate how sport can change people's lives regardless of race, religion or physical abilities.

During the KWN Awards Week, the finalists had the experience to interview Paralympians and people working in the media, visiting the Athlete Village, Main Press Center, International Broadcasting Center and the Paralympic Games to learn the values of Paralympics and the diversity in the world.

The KWN program honors the videos created by children every year. Currently 18 countries and regions are taking part in this program. More than 180,000 children have participated in this program to date. Through this program, Panasonic aims to realize " A Better Life, A Better World" for its corporate citizenship activities involving education and coexistence around the world.
The Grand Prixes winners and the other videos can be viewed on the following websites: http://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/kwn/contest2016.html