首届硅谷青少年“我爱社区”视频新闻大赛圆满成功，Ethan Cheng获得冠军

Reported by Youth Chair Jason Shan

On Jan. 10th 1 p.m. PST, Ding Ding TV and Bay Area Youth Initiative (BAYouth) held the award ceremony for the first ever “I Love My Community” youth video news competition through Zoom. The competition was hosted over a three week period where youths could submit their videos that exemplified their love for their community in a storytelling fashion. The “I Love My Community” planning committee consisted of:

Jason Shan, youth event chair	Emma Tu, youth chair of promotion	Joseph Shan, youth chair of contents	Judy Zeng, youth chair of contestants
Diana Ding, Event chair	Sandy Wang, co-executive chair	Liyan Zhao, co-executive chair

After a brief welcome from each committee member, chair of judges Joel Wong described the judging guidelines as follows: the inspirational and uplifting content category was weighted 40%, the storyline category was 30%, creativity was given 20%, and production/technical skills was 10%. Each judge reviewed and scored all submitted videos to generate the top 6 video winners, and one viewer’s choice winner would go to the video with the most number of likes. The judges for this competition were all asked to share their thoughts. They are:

• Joel Wong, President of NAAUnited (National Asian American United), Editor In Chief, CLUSA (Civic Leadership USA). National Governing Board member, APAPA (Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association)

• Sandy Close, Founder of Ethnic Media Service, a pioneer in developing youth media

• Hung Wei, Cupertino City Council Member, Board Member and past Board President, Fremont Union High School Foundation

• Praveen Gupta, Mentor of Youth Innovation Program; Lecturer, Lucas College and Graduate School of Business of San Jose State University. Author of several award-winning books.

• Orrin Mahoney, Former Mayor of Cupertino, District governor of Rotary Club, Board Member at Santa Clara County Fairgrounds.

• Carl Shan, Cofounder of Teenager Coach Program: Orenda, Senior Scientist at LinkedIn

Joel Wong	Sandy Close	Hung Wei	Orrin Mahoney
Praveen Gupta	Carl Shan

The partners of the “I Love My Community” competition who sponsored students to participate in our event are Bilingual Youth TV, Chunhui Art Academy, Galaxy Art for Children, Able2Shine, with special thanks to the contest’s other sponsors, Civic Leadership USA, National Asian American United, and Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs.

The competition had 7 winners in total, with 1 viewer’s choice winner, 3 third place winners, 2 second place winners, and 1 first place winner. Third place winners and the viewer’s choice winner will each receive $100; second place winners will receive $200; and the first place winner will receive $300. The winners are as follows:

• First place: Ethan Cheng: A Different Angle

  Second place: Michelle Ahl: Our Love

  Second place: Etta Sou: Bring Joy with Music

  Third place: Sophia Shao: Super Joey Foundation: Love will Never Fade!

  Third place: Alicia Peng: Shine4Love Senior Center Show

  Third place: Christine Han: We Will Push Harder /

  Viewer’s choice: Grace Wu: Kindness is a choice

Aside from the aforementioned awards, participation awards and awards of excellence were also given. Each participant will receive a drone and an official certificate.

After the announcement of the winners, each winner’s video was played, and they shared their thanks.

Next, VIPs were invited to speak. They are all prominent community figures and heavily involved in helping the youth:

• Otto Lee, Santa Clara County supervisor

• Yan Zhao, Mayor of Saratoga

• Liang Chao, Vice Mayor of Cupertino

• Chris Norwood, Milpitas Unified School District Board of Trustees president

• Jeff Moe, Fremont Union High School Board

• CC Yin, Founder of APAPA

• Sandy Chau, Chairman of CLUSA

Otto Lee	Yan Zhao	Liang Chao	Chris Norwood
Jeff Moe	Sandy Chau	CC Yin	All

“COVID-19 will not define my generation., what I do in response will. I love my community.  Together, we are stronger.”Chris Norwood said at the event.

Concluding the event, each member of the planning committee gave their closing remarks, and a group gallery picture was taken.

Ding Ding TV and BAYouth are incredibly thankful to the partners who made this event possible, the judges for their tireless work, the youth for their thoughtfulness in giving back to the community, and the audience members that were able to tune in to the award ceremony.

Watch the Live Award Ceremony:

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