A team of students from SMK WAFA in Bandung, Indonesia bested 15 other school teams from Indonesia and the Philippines to win the first prize in BIOTROP’s first online video production course cum competition on the theme “Promoting Biodiversity Conservation.”
The winning video, titled “Exploring Ciwidey” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlnJ0iIfAYs), features Ciwidey’s deer conservation farm, monkey rehabilitation centre and the uniqueness of Kawah Putih or white lake.
The second prize went to the video titled “Lerak” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnfTSernH-s) produced by a team of students from SMK Wikrama in Bogor, Indonesia. “Take me Back” video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao7xiVQiixc) by a team of students from St. Louis University-Laboratory High School in the Philippines was adjudged as third prize winner. “Lerak”video promotes a local tree called Lerak that produces fruits that can be processed as natural detergent. “Take Me Back” video projects the longing of the youth to bring back the original state of their environment where they grew up.
The online course and video competition, held in August to September 2018, was part of BIOTROP’s golden anniversary celebration this year. It was aimed to promote biodiversity conservation among the youth, develop their potentials in creating a basic video for educational purposes and in promoting ecotourism via social media. A total of 34 teams from various high schools in Indonesia and Philippines participated in the online course. However, only 16 teams submitted video entries for the competition.
The winning videos were judged based on four main criteria, namely: (1) relevance to the theme, (2) clarity of the message, (3) video quality (sound, video and other aspects of aesthetics), and (4) creativity (novelty and animation). The judges were Dr Jesus C. Fernandez from BIOTROP, Dr Nyoto Santoso from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) Drs Riza Marlon, freelance professional photographer, and Mr Herry Tjiang, a drone photography expert.
BIOTROP’s online video course and competition took off the the Centre’s biodiversity conservation photo competitions held annually since 2013 to create greater public awareness and support to biodiversity conservation efforts in Southeast Asia.
