Waiakea High, Hilo Intermediate Among Finalists in Statewide Video Compeition

Three Big Island schools were listed as finalists in the 13^th annual ‘Olelo Youth Xchange Statewide Student Video Competition.

The competition, presented by Sony, had a total of 909 submissions from public, charter, and private schools from across the state.

A total of 132 finalists were selected based on subject impact and technical production.

Judges were made up of local news media, film-making professionals, and subject experts.

Waiakea High School earned finalist status in two categories: animation with the video “True Colors” and in short film with “Teen Abortion.” Hilo Intermediate School earned its finalist status for the mini-documentary “Save Our Oceans!”

Videos are competing across seven broad and nine sponsored categories. The broad categories include animation, mini-documentary, news, public service announcement, short, expert and junior expert.

Sponsored categories include Be a Jerk, Clean Water Hero, Creating Peace, Forest Health in Hawai‘i, Meth: Not Even Once, Start Living Healthy, Taking Assessments Seriously, The Value of Water, and Traffic Safety.

Students compete in three age divisions: elementary, intermediate, and high school.

Previous winners and students with professional experience competed in the junior expert division, which included kindergarten through middle school students, and expert, including high school and college categories.

Winners will be announced on Wednesday, April 27 at an Awards Gala at the Sheraton Waikiki Resort, with just one winner in each of the 42 divisional categories.