Happy International Youth Day!
The youth is the hope of our future – Jose Rizal
The Annual celebration for youths is held in honour of their contribution to addressing global concerns and attaining sustainable development. Among the many young people in our nation striving to make the world a better place, this bright young lass has taken the opportunity to spread awareness about issues that affect the local community.
The 6th ASEAN Youth Video Contest 2022 is presently taking place, and Kirtanac M. Genason, 23 is representing our home nation, Malaysia, as one of the top finalists.
The Asean Youth Video Contest (AYVC) is an annual competition for Southeast Asian youth. It involves young people by utilising interactive technology to arouse excitement about belonging to the ASEAN Community and foster familiarity with the ASEAN identity. Youths can discover the opportunities and issues the ASEAN community faces by taking part in a film competition.
The program seeks to choose the top ten amateur videographers regionally to partake in an expert-led workshop, where they will receive training in video production skills to enhance their submitted videos. The top three participants will be crowned ASEAN winners and awarded alluring prizes.
The theme for the 6th ASEAN Youth Video Contest (AYVC) this year is “Youth Addressing Challenges Together – Stay Dynamic in the Time of Pandemic: ACT now!” Kirtanac and the other top finalists attended the AYVC Workshop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Kirtanac M Genason shared about her experience at AYVC with Varnam Malaysia.
Kirtanac’s apparent passion for the arts, particularly sequential arts, drove her to enroll in the programme. With a strong interest in leadership events, her primary goal has always been to connect the dots between arts and activism.
I’ve always had an interest in the arts and aspired to develop sequential work that I could launch on my own one day. – Kirtanac
“For this AYVC workshop, I endorse and spread awareness about mental health and consider conveying it through arts, especially digital art which has a major and effective impact on our community, particularly the youth,” she claimed.
Owing to her fortunate discovery of this competition through the social media platform of the ASEAN foundation, the enthusiastic girl was able to secure her spot among the top finalists in the program.
Even though Kirtanac is a student of accounting and has little experience in the arts and video production, she chose to go after her passion. She invested time in learning more about the competition to better comprehend the criteria and judging standards in order to compete.
Support from her family and friends encouraged her through her fascinating and insightful journey.
I grasped a lot of knowledge, build amazing connections with friends across Southeast Asia, learned about the culture of Cambodia, visited beautiful historical places – Kirtanac
The keen youth was exposed to professional trainers’ insights into sophisticated video production and animation techniques during the four-day AYVC course in Cambodia, allowing her to make the best video.
Continued hard work along with persistent determination and passion will bring success and victory – Kirtanac
“I’d personally would like to thank our trainer, Mr. Horea Salajan, for highlighting the significance of using the media, as a powerful tool to engage with the youth and our community effectively“, she expressed.
“I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to ASEAN Foundation, U.S. Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S Mission to ASEAN, Ministry of Youth and Sport, Cambodia, in coordination with ASEAN Member States through the ASEAN Secretariat for creating this opportunity and their on-going efforts to train Southeast Asian youths for the future while also addressing issues faced by youths in the region at the height of the post-pandemic recovery phase”, she added.
Future young leaders who are passionate about filmmaking, should consider AYVC as a great opportunity to raise awareness in the upcoming years.
The annual programs of the ASEAN Foundation, which offer a variety of youth activities is a program encouraged by Kirtanac for youth passionate about social-economic issues and development. She also said that engaging in such programs fosters interpersonal and professional relationships, improves communication, creativity, and teamwork at the same improving one’s self-confidence.
“The younger generation in our community should focus on enhancing their soft skills, discover and explore their passion apart from the academic journey”, she stated.
“Stop competing, start connecting”
The way the youth view competitions in general requires a shift in their mindsets which involves a lifelong learning process.
It is time to show our support to the younger generation in hopes of a better future!
The Top 9 finalists’ Youths Addressing Challenges Together – Stay Dynamic in the Time of Pandemic: ACT now! video will be posted on the ASEAN Secretariat YouTube channel on September 12. The top three winners will be honoured with the People’s Choice Award.
Click HERE to know more about AVYC2022.
Congratulations to Kirtanac for representing our nation with honour.
Best wishes to the Top 9 finalists of the ASEAN Youth Video Contest 2022. You are all winners to us.
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