KWN UK Panel Judging Day – 24th March

This day was so exciting! To recap, KWN (Kid Witness News) is a global programme run every year by Panasonic whereby schools from all over the world use Panasonic video equipment to make their very own 4-minute films. It's a bit like a news report, but from the perspective of children - as the KWN tagline states, it's 'the world from their eyes'. Amazing, right?

The two available themes for the entries this year were 'Ecology' and 'Communication' and I was fortunate enough, as the intern, to be able to help judge the UK entries! The judging panel meeting (held at Panasonic UK in Bracknell) was incredible and consisted of the following lovely folk:

• Gill Brigg - KWN UK Education Director




• Adrian Birtwell - KWN UK Operations Manager




• James Stead - KWN UK Trainer and Independent Film Maker




• Paul Press - KWN UK Trainer and Independent Film Maker




• Ian Cameron - Newsgathering Editor for BBC Nations and Regions




• (myself!)




• Gaby Titcombe - Former KWN student from Testbourne Community School




• Suzy Lambert - Director of The Network and Fast Track (Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival)




• Jane Bonner - Walsall Children's Services - Serco




• Anne Molyneux - Citizenship Foundation




• David Mell - Teaching and Learning Consultant (Creative Arts), East Riding of Yorkshire School Improvement Service

We were put into pairs and each team was given a sub-category to judge. My fellow team member and I were given the excellent, but extremely difficult, task of deciding which of the eight shortlisted films deserved to win the award for Best Story-telling. This meant we had to look at how cohesive a film's storyline and script was; if the message was conveyed well through statistics and imagery; and if the reporting style was fluid.

Each film was watched twice, with time for note-taking in between. The other sub-categories included Best Reporting Team, Best Global Citizenship, Best Learning Journey, Best Pictures and Sound and the much-coveted Grand Prix Award (a.k.a. The Best One). Results will be revealed in a later post...