(L-R) Two members of the winning team from Monfort College School, Thailand, Kunawut Kunanai and Worrawat Watakit, with Guest Speaker Suzanne Jung.

25 February 2014, Singapore – Thailand’s youths have emerged as the winner of Panasonic Regional Asia Pacific Kid Witness News (KWN) Contest 2013, beating competition from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Vietnam.

The winning entry was made by Monfort College School, Thailand, with the team comprising of students Worrawat Watakit, Natee Arayawutthikul, Kunawat Kunanai, Pasin Kraisutarung, and Kasideth Kaewpradit. Entitled “Value” of Immensely, the video explores how a rural pig farming village in Thailand introduced environmentally friendly farming practices and animal waste management that generated useful resources to fuel their village and fertilise their lands. Apart from walking away with the top prize, the team also received the “Best Videography Award”.

The entries were judged based on two broad criteria - expression and technical points. Expression points include the concept, writing and overall performance of the submission while videography, sound and editing skills were taken into consideration in the scoring of technical points.

Based on the theme of ‘environment’ and ‘communication’, the 2013 edition of the Regional KWN Contest saw youths from as young as 10, to 18 years old exercising their creative talent through films to address pressing society issues. Topics dealt with included environmental pollution in the tourism town of Kota Kinabalu, wastage of water resources at home and the breakdown of family relationships in a digital age.

Other winners in the different categories are as follows: Vietnam won “Creative Concept”, Malaysia for “Best Editing”, Singapore for “Best Young Achievers”, Indonesia for “Best Music” and New Zealand for “Best Sound”. (Refer to Annex 2 for detailed winners write up)

The KWN participants also put their filmmaking skills to a good cause in Singapore through a visit to Parkway Cancer Centre at Gleneagles Hospital. Drawing inspiration from their interactions with staff and patients, they came up with an encouragement video for cancer patients as part of the centre’s “I am a Cancer Warrior” campaign.

“We are glad that we are able to provide the participants with the necessary equipment and training, such that they are able to bring their ideas to life. Not only do they gain more skills and knowledge, they also gain more awareness about the world around them, both in their society and beyond geographical boundaries. It is indeed heartening to see that the Kid Witness News programme has become such a powerful channel in educating students in the region, and we hope that the programme has been, and will remain to be, enriching for all participants,” said Mr Joe Tsuchiya, Director of the Brand Management Group for Panasonic Asia Pacific Pte Ltd.

Judges for this year’s contest include established and seasoned professionals from the media and education institutions, comprising of Dr. Lucksana Klaikao (Director of Master of Communications Arts Program, and Lecturer at the Department of Radio and Television, Faculty of Communication Arts, Rangsit University), Pattana Jirawong (Director and film scriptwriter), Jackie Tan (Photographer), and Vincent Poh (Executive Producer and Director of REDBOT PICTURES).

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

Panasonic Asia Pacific is a key hub for Panasonic’s global production activities. Based in Singapore, Panasonic’s Asia Pacific headquarters also promotes environmental conservation initiatives and encourages the adoption of environment-friendly products through public eco-awareness campaigns designed for each country in the region. On a broader scale, Panasonic Asia Pacific has specific goals to reduce its regional carbon dioxide emissions footprint in support of Panasonic’s global eco initiatives.

KWN (Kid Witness News) is a global video education program supported by Panasonic, with the aim of boosting creativity and communication skills and fostering teamwork through video production by children at the primary and secondary school levels.

More than 160,000 children around the world have participated in the KWN program since it first began in the U.S. in 1989. Panasonic lends video production equipment to schools for student video productions. Videos created by the students are submitted to an annual countries´/ regions´ awards contest, with prizes awarded in over ten different categories, including news, documentaries, dramas, commercials, etc.

In 2004, an international category was created in the contest for the first time, taking the competition global. In keeping with this growing number of participating countries/regions, the KWN Global Contest has been held annually since 2008. As of Feb. 2013, around 10,000 children from 622 schools in 29 countries/ region around the world have participated in the past year.

For more information on the Panasonic Kid Witness News program, please visit

Issued by Panasonic Asia Pacific. For media queries, please contact:

Nathaniel Lee
6551 5422/9624 8825