Two schools from the Middle East enter 2019 Panasonic Global Kid Witness News Contest

wo schools from the Middle East have been adjudged as regional winners of the 2019 Kid Witness News (KWN) Contest organized by Panasonic.  UAE’s Elite Private School topped the award’s Senior Category while Pakistan’s The City School shone brightest in the Junior Category.  Both schools earned the right to represent the Middle East and compete for top plums in KWN Global Summit 2019, which will be held in Tokyo, Japan in July.

KWN is an international video education program supported by Panasonic that aims to stimulate children’s creativity, build communication skills and foster teamwork through original video production. Opened to primary and secondary school students across the Middle East, this year’s edition of KWN encouraged participants to come up with video concepts – news, documentary or drama – that reflect ‘The World Through Their Eyes’.  The five-minute human-interest videos touched on themes important to the students and their respective communities, such as Environment, Communication or Sports. 

Panasonic received video entries from countries across the Middle East, including the UAE, Pakistan and Oman.  The KWN regional contest jury, composed of Panasonic officials, who chose the winning videos according to their artistic merit and overall impact, as well as based on simplicity and directness that characterized the children’s work.  

Honey Sanadhya, Assistant Manager – Corporate Communications, PMMAF, thanked all the participants who entered the competition, citing that the growing number of schools joining KWN promises a brighter future for all.  “We had an exceptional turnout this year and all the students demonstrated extraordinary talent in video production.  KWN is a unique program, which effectively uses technology as a learning tool and to empower children as active members of the community.  Its core goal of nurturing a deeper awareness and understating of global issues amongst children is crucial in helping shape the youth become compassionate global citizens committed to making a difference and making this world a better place to live in,” Sanadhya commented.

The winning team from The Elite Private School is comprised of 8 team members.  They produced the video titled Mirage, to raise awareness on the impact of excessive use of social media and FOMO (fear of missing out) & Narcissism amongst teenagers.  Meanwhile, The City School chose to send out an inspiring message about global warming with their video titled Earth Has Fever. The regional champs for the Junior Category had 12 team members.

More than 183,450 children around the world have participated in the KWN program since it first began in the U.S. in 1989.  In 2004, the competition became global with the creation of an international category, and with the program kicking off in the Middle East region.  In keeping with this growing number of participating countries/regions, the KWN Global Contest has been held annually since 2008. 

“The creativity shown by children entering the KWN Contest year after year is incredible. We are honoured to celebrate the talents of these children at the same time, glad that we are able to strengthen Panasonic’s commitment of creating ‘A Better Life, A Better World’.  We look forward to organizing more KWN contests so that we help more children become active citizens and learners,” Sanadhya added