Bangalore School Wins Adobe Youth Voices Award

Adobe Foundation recently announced the winners of the third annual Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) Awards, a global online competition inviting students aged 13 to 19 to use digital media to express their vision for driving positive change in their communities. A record 2,400 students from 50 countries submitted projects this year on social issues like bullying, body image and climate change. First and second place winners were chosen by a luminary panel of judges, while Audience Award winners were determined by 200,000 votes cast online.

There were 6 finalists from India. Sri Kumaran Children’s Home in Bangalore won the Audience Award in the Animation category. The winners, Sesh Sadasivam, Abhishek Krishna and Inavamsi B. Enaganti created an animated video titled ‘TechJunk’ which talks about the issues of e-waste and pollution caused due to it.

Speaking on the occasion, Tridib Roy Chowdhury, Senior Director, Products, Adobe India said, “We are overwhelmed by the thought provoking work put together by the students. Adobe is delighted to provide a platform to these creative minds to voice their opinion and we are elated with the response and participation Adobe Youth Voices awards have received this year. With the AYV program we are looking at making young people think creatively, communicate effectively and work collaboratively with digital media.”

AYV Award winners are chosen in seven categories: animation, documentary, photo essay, music video, narrative, poetry and campaign poster. Youth can submit projects individually or as teams working with an AYV educator. First and second place winners are named in each of the seven categories by a diverse panel of judges, including luminaries working in art, film and other creative fields, alongside AYV educators, student alumni and Adobe representatives.

Speaking about their win, Sesh Sadasivam said, “We made this animated video for the Adobe Youth Voices Awards 2014 to make our audience aware about the rising problem of e-waste and its disposal. We are very happy to have won the Audience Award in the Adobe Youth Voices Awards 2014 and we hope that this will help to spread the word to a larger global audience. Through Adobe Youth Voices, we had an opportunity to understand how our peers across countries perceive the world and the positive changes they wish to bring in society and we are thankful to Adobe for providing us this opportunity.”

Speaking about the program, Jayanthi Sridhar, Teacher, Sri Kumaran Children’s Home said, “This win is a result of the hard work and dedication of the team. It was a pleasure to see them work in a coordinated manner and balance academics along with this project. I am thankful to our Principal who provided us the right guidance and support whenever required. The team’s systematic approach and wise time management helped them demonstrate their thoughts in a creative way and I am grateful to Adobe Youth Voices Program for giving an opportunity to these students who could showcase their talent and create something that was close to their heart. I would like to encourage every student to participate as AYV is a wonderful platform to create an impact at a global level on issues that they feel strongly about.”

“Since its inception, AYV has impacted the lives of more than 190,000 students around the world. It has empowered them to make a difference in their communities and build their skills in digital media that will help them get ahead,” said Michelle Crozier Yates, Director, Corporate Responsibility, Adobe. “With what they’ve learned, 88% of AYV youth tell us they feel confident about their ability to ideate, collaborate, adapt and express their points of view. 95% believe creativity is important to their future success.  We look forward to making the AYV program even more globally accessible.”

AYV Award winners and their affiliated schools and organizations will each receive a range of prizes, including donations of Samsung Galaxy Tablets, copies of Adobe CS Production Premium Suite, a 1-year Adobe Creative Cloud membership and a monetary donation to a charity of their choice.