Al Majd School for boys in Sharjah has beaten 20 other schools to win this years Panasonic’s digital video contest for students.

Kids Witness News (KWN) is Panasonic’s global initiative, structured to develop students' self confidence, creativity, communication skills, and teamwork through the use of digital video technology.

This year’s topic was ‘Ecology and Communication’. More than 20 schools across the UAE participated in the competition with each submitting a five minute video, reflecting the competition theme. 

The winning video titled ‘Clean Inside’ is a documentary that depicts how people are more anxious to keep their houses clean and unconcerned about the surrounding neighborhood.  The film urges the viewers to review their lifestyle and their responsibility towards the environment.

The film maker’s Ali Saleh (12) and Faisal Jasim (14) won a week long trip to Japan, where they met with other environment conscious students.

“Our lifestyle is contributing towards global warming, and keeping our neighborhoods clean is the first step towards protecting our environment,” said Ali Saleh.

“Working on the project was fun and exciting. The cultural trip to Japan was fascinating, and thanks to Panasonic, I got a chance to experience a different culture.”

“The project was challenging and inspiring at the same time. We wanted to communicate our responsibility of caring for the environment,” said Faisal Jasim.

“I enjoyed Japan, it is a fascinating culture. We met students just like us, who are also concerned about our planet. We made friends and helped them understand our Arabic culture.”

KWN is a hands-on video education program; Panasonic provides video cameras and other equipment for video production. Now in its 20^th year, more than 120,000 students globally have participated in the program.

“Investing in our young generation is a key global initiative of Panasonic. The KWN program is designed to help develop communication and presentation skills among school children. Panasonic, through a variety of CSR initiatives such as this, is keen to raise awareness on social issues and help children be more aware of the environment around them,” said Anthony Peter, Associate Director and Group General Manager, Direct Communications and Customer Care Group, Panasonic Marketing Middle East.

 “The UAE students are very talented and environmentally conscious, the winning documentary was of the highest caliber and thoughtful. The cultural trip was to help the students understand that globally, there are others like them, who are concerned for the planet’s future.”