OSAKA, Japan - Tuesday, July 28th 2015 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Panasonic Corporation today announced the seven finalist schools representing seven countries for the Panasonic Kid Witness News (KWN) 2015 Global Contest. The Grand Prix winner will be selected from among them and announced on August 26 at the KWN Global Awards Ceremony in Singapore. This is the first global awards ceremony to be held in Southeast Asia.

KWN is a hands-on video education program that Panasonic operates as part of its efforts to support education of future generations and is currently being promoted in 19 countries and regions. The company provides video cameras and other equipment for video productions to elementary and middle schools participating in the program. The KWN program is also a competition that honors the video works created by children every year. To produce videos, students choose a theme on their own and handle everything from planning and scripting to filming and editing. Currently, some 5,000 children and teachers around the world are taking part in the program. The program, which began in the United States in 1989, celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, and more than 170,000 children have participated to date.

This year's KWN Global Contest saw 553 schools from 19 countries and regions take part in the program by submitting five-minute videos. Under the broad theme of either communication or ecology, the videos focused on issues closely linked to children's lives through the eyes of children, such as the impact and interactions through social media, environmental issues, earthquake disasters and interactions with family members or physically challenged individuals. Synopses of the seven Grand Prix nominees are shown on the following page.

This year's seven finalist videos can be viewed on the official website for the KWN Global Contest 2015 at: http://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/kwn/contest2015/

Related URLs:

    General information on KWN program: http://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/kwn/
    Panasonic's activities to support the next generation: http://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/sustainability/citizenship/education/

Summary of the seven finalist videos

To view the table kindly click here

About Panasonic Kid Witness News

KWN got its start in 1989 in the U.S. as a hands-on video education program supported by Panasonic North America, which supplied video cameras and editing equipment to public elementary and middle schools to make news programs from the perspective of children. The program was subsequently expanded on a global scale. At present, 553 schools from 19 countries and regions participate in the program.

KWN is designed to foster creativity and presentation skills among young students. Supervising teachers cite further merits of the program such as a heightened awareness of the environment and the community as well as development of team skills among participants through the process of creating videos. The global network of KWN schools also provides a platform for international exchange among KWN students.
 

19 countries and regions participating in KWN

(Countries listed in alphabetical order)

North America
          

Canada, United States

Central and South America
          

Chile

Europe
          

Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia

Middle and Near East
          

Iraq, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates

Asia
          

China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam

Oceania
          

New Zealand
            

About Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development of diverse electronics technologies and solutions for customers in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, enterprise solutions and device industries. Since its founding in 1918, the company has expanded globally and now operates 468 subsidiaries and 94 associated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of 7.715 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2015. Committed to pursuing new value through innovation across divisional lines, the company uses its technologies to create a better life and a better world for its customers. To learn more about Panasonic: http://www.panasonic.com/global

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=51150523&lang=en

To view the full release including the table, please click here

Contacts

Media Contact

Panasonic Corporation

Global Communications Department

Media Promotion Office

+81-3-3574-5729

presscontact@ml.jp.panasonic.com

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