Prize Winners (2013)

Total of 331 entries from 208 organizations in 57 countries/regions were
submitted in the JAPAN PRIZE 2013.

*Please click here to view the list of Runners-up.

Title Cultural Shock
Media/Duration TV / 26m 00s
Country/Region Italy
Organization

Zenit Arti Audiovisive
Rai Educational
2+1
Developed with the support of the EU MEDIA Program

Content Cultural Shock is a cross-media edutainment project targeting young audience and giving voice to a new generation of Digital Storytellers exploring with a fresh angle the issue of world citizenship and cultural diversity. A couple selected by a group of young people, with an ethical mission, has a trip to their country of origin. In this episode, Rasid and Agnese leave for the Balkans to discover their roots and identity.

The Best Work in the Pre-school Category
(The Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Prize)
Title Siebenstein: Nearest and Dearest
Media/Duration TV / 06m 20s
Country/Region Germany
Organization

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Studio Soi

Content This animation program portrays the process of growing that everyone has experienced, from a child’s perspective, and provides moments of comic relief in a heart-warming way. The protagonist, Elmar, completely depends on his sister, Carla, who kindly takes care of him. When Carla decides to go to university in another city, Elmar tries to make her stay at home with his younger sister, Milla. His efforts are in vain and Elmar finds himself riding a bicycle after Carla leaves home.Elmar comes to understand Carla's situation and starts taking care of Milla and teaching life's important lessons.
The Best Work in the Primary Category
(The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Prize)
Title Challenges "Hair Story"
Media/Duration TV / 14m 45s
Country/Region Israel
Organization Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA)
Content This is a documentary film portraying the spiritual growth of Kelly, who decides to donate her beloved long dark hair to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients. Through her father’s heart transplant, she discovers that there are people who donate their organs. The camera captures the powerful moment of Kelly having her hair cut. The hair is made into wigs and Kelly gives one to Liza, a girl with cancer. This film teaches the importance of volunteering and giving a hand to others without expecting anything in return.
The Best Work in the Youth Category
(The Minister of Foreign Affairs Prize)
Title Mission US: “Flight to Freedom”
Media/Duration Game
Country/Region United States
Organization THIRTEEN/WNET New York Public Media
Content This is a digital history game designated to engage middle school students in learning their own history. The story is set at a Kentucky plantation in the middle of the 19th Century. Players take on the role of Lucy King, a 14-year-old slave girl. After navigating Lucy’s escape and journey to Ohio, players discover that life in the “free” North is dangerous and difficult. “Flight to Freedom” helps students learn how enslaved people’s choices – from small, everyday acts of resistance to action that sought an end to slavery –affected the lives of individuals, and ultimately the nation.

The Best Work in the Continuing Education Category

(The Governor of Tokyo Prize)

Title Cultural Shock
Media/Duration TV / 26m 00s
Country/Region Italy
Organization Zenit Arti Audiovisive
Rai Educational
2+1
Developed with the support of the EU MEDIA Program
Content Cultural Shock is a cross-media edutainment project targeting young audience and giving voice to a new generation of Digital Storytellers exploring with a fresh angle the issue of world citizenship and cultural diversity. A couple selected by a group of young people, with an ethical mission, has a trip to their country of origin. In this episode, Rasid and Agnese leave for the Balkans to discover their roots and identity.
The Best Work in the Welfare Education Category
(The President of NHK Prize)
Title Alphée of the Stars
Media/Duration Film / 82m 00s
Country/Region Canada
Organization National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Content Alphée has a rare genetic disorder that hampers her development. After her parents intuitively reject the idea of placing her in a specialized classroom, they move their family to the Swiss Alps for a year. Here, her father – filmmaker Hugo Latulippe - takes advantage of the time away to focus on his fairy-like daughter’s learning, in hopes of eventually integrating her into a regular classroom. This film is a moving declaration of love from a father to his daughter. Through its tender and patient eye, the film challenges our assumptions and reveals an unknown world that may have escaped us in our daily rush.
The Best Work in the Innovative Media Category
(The Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Prize)
Title NHK Creative Library
Media/Duration Website
Country/Region Japan
Organization Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK)
NHK Educational Corporation
Content This is an online service where even beginners can try video editing using NHK archival footage. As long as the conditions prohibiting commercial use and copyright infringement are respected, users are free to download and use over 4500 video and audio materials. The site allows users to share the videos they have made and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. This is a project providing extensive, high-quality video archives to the public. It also suggests the importance of building media literacy and expressive abilities in an age when video is such a big part of lives.
The Maeda Prize
Title The Kamaishi Miracle
Media/Duration TV / 49m 00s
Country/Region Japan
Organization Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK)
Content When the devastating tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, all 184 children of the local elementary school in Kamaishi survived. Their action has become known as “The Kamaishi Miracle”. Making full use of their knowledge, the children scattered to safety, leading little ones by the hand, and urging adults to evacuate. This program portrays how the “three rules of survival” taught by professor Toshitaka Katada of Gunma University, who serves as Kamaishi City’s disaster prevention advisor, led to the miracle.
The Japan Foundation President’s Prize
Title WITHIN THE EYE OF THE STORM
Media/Duration Film / 68m15s
Country/Region Israel
Organization Nisansun Productions & firefly Pictures
'Sundance Institute Documentary Fund'
France 5-TV
Makor Film Foundation
Gesher Foundation
'People's Peace Fund'
Content Bassam and Rami, a Palestinian and an Israeli, were once dedicated fighters willing to kill and be killed for the sake of their nations. Although their daughters were slain, they set out on a joint journey to humanize the very enemy, which took the dearest thing from them, to prevent the vicious cycle of retaliation in themselves and their societies. The film follows their parallel stories as they reveal the friendship and humor that keeps them alive along the way. We witness how dialogue and seeing the ‘other’ is the only way to achieve peace.
The UNICEF Prize
Title Straight to the Dream: 18 years Following of a Blind Swimmer, Chikako
Media/Duration TV / 45m 29s
Country/Region Japan
Organization Sapporo Television Broadcasting Corporation (STV)
Content Eighteen-year-old Chikako lost her eyesight at birth due to retinopathy of prematurity. This documentary follows her and her family over a decade. Having been a swimmer since an early age, she is chosen to go to the Paralympics. The program depicts her strength by following her life with Shokichi, a member of a pop group. They show us what it means to have a disability, what family is and the importance of having dreams, hope and courage.
The Best Proposal (The Hoso Bunka Foundation Prize)
Title Schooling along wild track
Country/Region Sri Lanka
Organization Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC)
Content The students in some remote villages in Sri Lanka walk to school along nature tracks for several kilometers, traversing jungles, rivers, canals and hills. If they come across wild elephants, they wait as long as necessary until the elephants cross their path. If it is monsoon season, rivers become flooded and they swim across. Mother Nature allows children to learn about aspects of the environment. The students gain rich lessons through their experiences. Based on student life in some jungle villages, this documentary exposes how they learn to confront nature with courage and hope. Viewers can learn about nature though these youth’s point of view. The program also helps viewers realize the hardship of student life in remote villages.

updated by the producer on May. 27, 2014

Special Prize (The National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan Prize)
Title Let there be Light
Country/Region Bangladesh
Organization Dhrupad Communication - Media for Education and Development
Content Bangladesh is a developing country in South Asia with a vast population of 160 million and the lowest literacy rate (40%) among developing countries. The government has been struggling to ensure basic education for all, but a notable part of the population lags in access to education due to social prejudice. Among them, the people of the Dalit and Harijan communities have been neglected and discriminated against by mainstream society. A young girl, Shima Rani Roy, is the first Dalit girl to pass the higher secondary certificate examination. She first disclosed her identity when she was admitted to a local college. The college authority tried indirectly to refuse her admission. Under such conditions, the personal efforts of Shima Rani to obtain education have already made her a role model in her community, which is now persuading her community to provide education.

updated by the producer on July. 24, 2014

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