Panasonic Vietnam organized the Award Ceremony of the Kid Witness News (KWN) filmmaking program, with the participation of more than 100 students, parents and teachers. 16 films were honored, of which 02 first prize winners will represent Vietnam to participate the KWN Global Summit, together with filmmaking teams from around the world. This year is the first time all the creative artwork of students will be broadcast on television to spread out to publicity the perspectives of future generations on environmental and social issues.

Kid Witness News (KWN) is a completely free filmmaking program for students aged 10 to 18 initiated by Panasonic globally. In its 17th year in Vietnam, the program has received more than 200 scripts from 400 students from Hanoi, cities and provinces across the country. More than 80 young film young filmmakers who have the most potential scripts, had moved forward to the filmmaking course, where they could meet Vietnamese professional directors and actors to learn all the stages of making film, from script writing, acting, shooting with specialized equipment from Panasonic to post-production and finishing the artwork.

Children's point-of-views has been conveyed creatively through their films

Through the creative works yet showing the purity of children with diverse point of views, the 16 best films convey meaningful messages about topics such as environmental protection, family relationship, friendship, communication... Additionally, many new exciting activities such as outdoor practical filming trip, visiting professional studios offered children opportunity to improve their communication skills, problems solving and learn from real-life observations.

Mr. Oka Hiroyuki, Director of Panasonic Vietnam shared: “Panasonic has actively implemented the Kid Witness News program in Vietnam for 17 years, with our main purpose of empowering Vietnamese children, future generations of the country, to raise their voices about social and global issues which concern them. I am very happy to know that you did really enjoy this program and you had an exciting, memorable summer with KWN2024. I was truly impressed by the way children told their stories with deep care about sustainability, about families, friends, and various matters they observe. Throughout the film making journey, we hope the future generation can develop a deeper understanding of what matters the most to them and the society; and they will be inspired to take initiatives for a better future.” 

Mr. Oka Hiroyuki, Director of Panasonic Vietnam delivered speech at the ceremony

This year, Panasonic collaborated with Youth and Children Media Center to bring out a completely new activity:  for the first time, 16 films made by KWN students were officially broadcast and introduced to audiences nationwide on VTC6 television channel, in order to honor the children's efforts, meanwhile spread out the stories, creativity and perspectives of the Vietnamese future generation.

In KWN2024, the Uno Media group (students from Cau Giay Secondary School) won the first prize in the age group of 10 to 12 for their film "Vun Art - Where life is reborn". The documentary film introduced Vun Art - a place to recycle scraps of fabric and discarded from silk making village to create paintings with great artistic value, and jobs for local disabilities. It is also a highlighted as the first documentary movie win the first prize of KWN.

First Prize, age group of 10 – 12 years old: Team Uno Media from Cau Giay Secondary School

For the age group from 13 to 18 years old, the first prize went to the film "Love" from the Voodoo group (students of Archimedes Dong Anh inter-level school), telling the story about the disagreement between a girl with a strong personality and a passion for music and her mother - a mother who loves her child very much.

First Prize, age group of 13 – 18 years old: Team Voodoo from Archimedes Dong Anh inter-level school

Tran Quang Nhat, a student at Cau Giay Secondary School, shared: "Our team was determined to choose the documentary genre for our film with the desire to inspire community about the work of people with disabilities who are not only overcoming difficulties in life but also contributing to beautifying the environment to be greener and cleaner.”

The films were scored by high reputation jury board of famous Vietnamese directors and actors, to select the best films to honor at the award ceremony.

People’s Artist Lan Huong (Bông), a member of the jury board shared: "Through the films, I found it interesting that the children got familiar with the filmmaker's work in a very creative and innocent way, to convey meaningful messages about love, environmental protection, and the dreams of youth”.

The two winning teams will be offered the opportunity to exchange their movies with other teams around the world by participating at the KWN Global Summit online event this October.

During the journey at Kids Witness News, more than 80 young filmmakers had the opportunity to learn, experience and meet-up with exciting experts to gain more knowledge and inspiration in creativity, including:

- Outdoor filming practice combined with teambuilding for children to develop teamwork skills from coordinating with teammates to solving difficulties and challenges.
- Practicing being a child reporter, interviewing interesting people during the tour and experience of Panasonic factory.
- Visiting professional studios at K+ TV channel and discover how a live television program is produced.

First held in the US since 1989, the KWN program has been implemented by Panasonic Corporation organizing for students aged from 10-18 years old and is completely free of charge worldwide. In Vietnam, after 17 successful seasons, the KWN program has recorded many impressive numbers: more than 3000 students participated with more than 160 videos were produced, 16 times the top films were sent to attend the KWN Global summit.

Let's look back at some memorable moments of the awarding ceremony: