Maui Waena Earns Honors in National Video Contest

Maui Waena student Joahnna Leeucol and instructor Jennifer Suzuki. 2012 file photo from last year’s competition, by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

Maui Waena Intermediate School earned an honorable mention award during the 10th Annual Student Television Network Convention in Los Angeles earlier this month, according to officials with the Hawaii Department of Education.

The Maui contingent was among students from more than a dozen Hawaii schools that nearly swept the competition by winning 16 of 17 awards issued by the nonprofit organization.

Maui Waena students were honored for their Public Service Announcement entry in the Middle School category.

The video production students returned to compete this year after placing first in 2012 in the Spot Feature category and the Sweet 16 Broadcast Journalism contest, and earning an honorable mention award in the music video category last year.

Waianae High School on O’ahu led the state this year with five awards including first place in Convention Recap, first place in the STN Excellence Award for Monthly Broadcast, second place for Laptop Journalist, third place in Short Story and honorable mention in Broadcast News Writing.

“There is an extraordinary wealth of talent among our public schools,” Waianae High teacher Candy Suiso said in a press release today.

Department of Education officials described Suiso as one of the pioneers of student video production in Hawaii.

An estimated 2,500 students from 153 middle and high schools across the nation participated in the four-day convention that included breakout sessions taught by industry professionals.

STN also held onsite contests as part of the convention for video production in 27 categories.  DOE officials say public schools dominated Hawaii’s cadre of awards, which included a second-place award for Kamehameha Schools Maui in the “Tell the Story” category.

The Student Television Network Convention is a nonprofit organization that supports, promotes and recognizes excellence in scholastic broadcasting, creative video and film making, and media convergence.