Molokai Middle Winner in Video Contest

‘Olelo Community Media News Release

Schools from across the state were named winners in the 17th Annual ‘Olelo Youth Xchange Student Video Competition last week. Top prizes went to Maui High, Wai‘anae Intermediate and Moanalua High, and Molokai Middle School students won the Free Speech Middle School category.

The competition is the state’s oldest and largest contest of its type. Over 900 video submissions this year were created by elementary, middle and high-school students who attend 71 public, charter and private schools statewide. Winning videos were from across Oahu, Maui, Hawaii Island, Kauai and Molokai.

The 54 award winners will receive high-definition Sony digital video cameras as prizes.

Three special shows were telecast on Channel 53 on May 11 by age group. In the coming days, the awards shows will be made available for viewing on ‘Olelo Video On-Demand Spectrum Channel 184 and channel 1961 HD, as well as at olelo.org/olelonet.

Former Miss Universe Brook Lee hosted all three awards shows. Her surprise guests included “Magnum P.I.” actors Amy Hill and Kimee Balmilero, who also stars in “Hawaii Five-O.”

The winning videos were selected based on subject impact and technical production. The judging panels included local news media, filmmaking professionals and, in the case of sponsored categories, subject experts.

‘Olelo Youth Xchange was developed in 2003 to give island keiki a voice to tell stories in a variety of video formats and about subjects that are meaningful to them. Since its inception, ‘Olelo Youth Xchange has awarded over 650 video cameras to schools throughout Hawaii.

This year, Youth Xchange videos competed in 18 categories. The five broad categories included mini-documentary, public service announcement, short, Expert and Junior Expert. Students in ‘Olelo Youth Xchange compete in three age divisions: elementary, intermediate and high school. Previous winners and students with professional experience compete in the Junior Expert (kindergarten through middle school) and Expert (high school and college) categories.

For more information, visit olelo.org/YXC.