Kapa‘a High School media students earned three awards and Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School students earned three awards at the Hawai‘i Medical Service Association 2012 Teen Awards Contest recently. Kasey Emoto of the CKMS, under the direction of teacher Kevin Matsunaga,
Kapa‘a High School media students earned three awards and Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School students earned three awards at the Hawai‘i Medical Service Association 2012 Teen Awards Contest recently.
Kasey Emoto of the CKMS, under the direction of teacher Kevin Matsunaga, topped the winnings, earning the Best Middle School Entry for her “Curse of the Crinkling.”
Emoto continued her winning ways, the “Curse of the Crinkling” earning third place in the Healthy Living category.
Top honors in the Healthy Living judging went to the Moanalua High School team of Justin Akama, Madelynne Nguyen under the instruction of teacher Mark Ikenaga with Waiana‘e High School getting second place honors with its team submission of “Slow Down.”
For her effort, Komoto earned $500 for her school with the Best Middle School award and another $250 for the school with her third place award.
Laura Koga, another CKMS media student under Matsunaga, earned a Special Award by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for her “No Excuses” submission.
Kapa‘a High School media instructor Michelle Rundbaken led her team of Courtney Brede, Lawson Fernandes, Paulina Felcher and Cameron Williamson to a third place in the Mental Health division with “Broken Heart Bullying.”
For the award, the student team earned $250 for the school’s digital media program.
The Warrior media team also took special awards with “I Will Take Your Life Away,” created by the team of Ilona Oliver and Rachel Farias, the submission earning a Special Award by The Hawai‘i Meth Project and an iPod Touch.
Brede, Fernandes and Felcher teamed up for “My Everything,” which earned the Special Award by Domestic Violence Action Center, the students earning gopro cameras.
“We are so proud of our students,” Rundbaken said in an email. “This is our biggest win yet.”
The Kaua‘i winners emerged from a field of 222 videos submitted by young producers from 44 public and independent middle and high schools across the state.
The community had the opportunity to vote online for their favorite video at hmsa.com with this year’s videos getting more than 35,000 views on YouTube.
The 2012 HMSA Teen Video Awards Contest challenged students to enter 27-second public service announcements about how choices today impact tomorrow.
The contest provides students the opportunity to create health messages which reach and impact their peers, states the HMSA website. In the process, students learn about the video creation process, including script writing, video production and copyright and privacy laws.
Categories included addition prevention, healthy living, mental health and teen safety.
The contest was sponsored by HMSA, the Hawai‘i State Department of Education, the Domestic Violence Action Center, the Hawai‘i Meth Project and MADD Hawai‘i.
Visit www.hmsa.com for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
