Big Island school wins at ‘Ōlelo Youth Xchange Student Video Competition

Hawai‘i Island’s Waiākea High School was among the winners of the 20th Annual ‘Ōlelo Youth Xchange Student Video Competition

Waiākea students took home a prize for their video “When Water Pulls Back, Act Fast” in the Prepare Now category.

However, Maui’s Baldwin High and Highlands Intermediate on O‘ahu nabbed the competition’s top prizes at an awards gala held Tuesday morning.

Baldwin won the Expert category with the video “Family,” while Highlands Intermediate took the Junior Expert category with “Embrace, Not Reject.”

Over 500 students, educators and parents attended the “keiki Oscars” at the Hawai‘i Convention Center this morning where the 34 total winning schools were announced.

The winners were selected from over 600 videos that entered the competition, presented by First Hawaiian Bank. This year’s submissions were created by students who attend public, charter and private schools statewide or are homeschooled.

‘Ōlelo Community Media’s Youth Xchange is Hawai‘i’s oldest and largest contest of its type.

In addition to the video winners, Michelle Okinaka-Kwong of Waipahu Elementary School received the Second Annual Media Teacher Award and was rewarded with two round-trip tickets anywhere Alaska Airlines serves. Alaska Airlines sponsors the award – determined by votes from participating students – in recognition of the importance of media literacy in the education of today’s keiki.

As the Expert category winner, Baldwin received a LiveU Solo Pro valued at $1,950. The LiveU unit will allow Baldwin to create 4K-quality videos and on-the-go content from remote locations.

For being named the Junior Expert, Highlands Intermediate won an equipment-and-accessory prize pack valued at approximately $1,700. It included a Canon M50 camera kit and accessories, as well as wireless microphones.

The other 32 category winners took home prize packs worth $780 that included Canon EOS M200 cameras and LED light panels with stands.

The prize packs were developed with the input of statewide media teachers to include equipment and accessories most highly desired by the programs.

This year, Youth Xchange videos competed in 13 categories.

The five broad categories were mini-documentary, public service announcement, short, Expert and Junior Expert.

The eight sponsored categories were A More Resilient and Sustainable Hawai‘i; Food Systems and Access to Healthy Food; Creating Peace; Forest Inspired; Pledge to Our Keiki, Taking Care of Our Island Home; Prepare NOW – Talk Story: Share Na‘auao…Wisdom!!; Traffic Safety; and World War II in Hawai‘i.

Students in ‘Ōlelo 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.