When I was studying marketing at university one of my lecturers said, “if you want to communicate a message simply and effectively, ask a young person what they would say”. I was reminded of that as I watched this year’s winning entries for The Outlook for Someday – sustainability film challenge for young people. The winners’ ability to get their messages across in simple but creative ways is really inspiring.
DOC sponsored a special biodiversity award for The Outlook for Someday challenge and at a ceremony in November two teams from Newmarket Primary School in Auckland were announced as the joint winners of that award.
One of the winning films is ‘The Kaitiaki Children and the Birds’. It’s about a group of young people who protect birds and share a message that we can all become nature’s guardians. The judges said the film uses “a wonderful and creative mix of media.”
Newmarket Primary School students and makers of The Kaitiaki Children and the Birds, with Auckland Mayor Len Brown and Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman.
Watch The Kaitiaki Children and the Birds.
The other winning film, ‘Sam the Superworm’ is about saving our food and tells the story of how everyone, including a small stripy worm, can help protect nature. The judges said this film is “a fabulous tale about taking action on behalf of biodiversity in an urban environment.”
Newmarket Primary School students and makers of Sam the Superworm collect their award
Watch Sam the Superworm.
The winning films are showing on TVNZ 6 each night this week (from 13-17 December) on Freeview or TiVo channel 6, and SKY or Telstra channel 16. Each programme will be shown at 6:30pm and again at 8:30pm.
To enter The Outlook for Someday challenge, young New Zealanders have to make a sustainability-related film that’s up to 5 minutes long, using any camera. People can enter as teams or individuals.
Entries for the film challenge came from all over New Zealand and were made by individuals and teams from primary, intermediate and secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions.
Well done to everyone who competed in this year’s film challenge and I’m sure next year’s entries will be just as strong.
