Maui Schools Among ‘Ōlelo Youth Xchange Video Finalists

Maui County schools made top placings in the 16th Annual ‘Ōlelo Youth Xchange Student Video Competition which received 1,062 submissions this year.

The Maui County schools that made it to the finalist round include Maui High, King Kamehameha Maui, Pōmaikaʻi Elementary School, Molokaʻi Middle School, Lahaina Intermediate, Montessori School of Maui, and Lāna‘i High.

The submissions were created by elementary, middle and high-school students who attend 88 public, charter and private schools all across O‘ahu, Hawai‘i Island, Maui, Kaua‘i, Moloka‘i and Lana‘i. Finalist videos are from all counties.

‘Ōlelo Youth Xchange was developed to help give island keiki a voice to tell stories in a variety of video formats and about subjects that are meaningful to them.

The finalist videos were selected based on subject impact and technical production. The judging panels included local news media, filmmaking professionals and, in the case of sponsored categories, subject experts.

High-definition Sony digital video cameras will be awarded to the winning schools in each of the divisional categories on the morning of Wednesday, April 24 at the Awards Gala at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.

The live cablecast of the ‘Ōlelo Youth Xchange Awards Gala will air April 24 starting at 9:30 a.m. on Channel 53; the livestream can be viewed via Facebook and ‘ŌleloNet at olelo.org/53. The entire cablecast will also be made available for viewing within 48 hours on ‘Ōlelo Video On-Demand Channel 184 and on olelo.org/olelonet.

Since its inception, ‘Ōlelo Youth Xchange has awarded over 650 video cameras to schools throughout Hawai‘i.