Washington, D.C.: Two high school students from the Sydney suburbs won an international short video competition, “My Food, Our Future”, organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to mark the World Food Day on October 16.
Hannah Yin (14) and Hiya Shah (15), residents of Sydney suburbs, Prestons and Leumeah, respectively, won the top position in the youth category (10-17 years) of the annual short video contest to receive the $500 prize. Yin and Shah, students at the Hurlstone Agricultural High School, jointly submitted a two-minute video, titled, “Pentassentials: One Problem, Five Steps,” presenting solutions to minimize food waste.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., IFPRI organized its first annual short video contest, “My Food, Our Future”, to raise awareness and encourage youth to get involved in finding solutions to food and nutrition security challenges in their neighborhoods, communities, and countries. This year’s theme for the contest encouraged participants to offer ideas and solutions to help ensure the world has access to healthy, diverse, and affordable diets.
“The youth are a powerful resource for economic development and social progress. Young people hold tremendous energy and creativity to not only contribute to agriculture, but also in addressing the major challenges facing humanity – hunger, poverty, and climate change,” said IFPRI Director General, Shenggen Fan. “It is imperative for the current generation to help remove the barriers youth face in order to reach the full potential of our youth and our world. The video contest enables us to listen to and amplify the voices of youth across the globe,” added Fan.
In the video, Yin and Shah propose setting up an organization, Pentassentials, which will produce a five-item food package containing a sandwich, drink, a fruit snack, compost and seeds—all obtained from waste materials donated to the organizations by restaurants, shops and businesses. This food package would then be redistributed in the rural areas. “We share a vision of a world where everyone has food on the table but know that this cannot be done without humankind willingly helping each other with their only reward being a better world,” said Yin and Shah.
Yin and Shah, currently in the Year Nine of school, learnt about the contest from their agriculture teacher and decided to team up to enter the contest. “We decided to participate because it seemed like an interesting way for two high school students to make a difference in the world,” said Yin and Shah.
While trying to narrow down ideas for the video, one day, during their agriculture class, they decided to search the most wasted food categories globally, and found bread, cheese, meat and bagged salads figured in the top 20. “Jokingly, we toyed with the idea of a grand sandwich company derived from wasted food but once we discussed this more, we knew we’d found our idea,” said Yin and Shah.
Shah is keen on pursuing a career that combines her interests in public speaking and leadership roles, focusing on making a positive contribution to the community. “I certainly cannot wait to give back to this world and all the people in it,” said Shah. Yin, meanwhile, is keen on exploring all options that come her way. But she is sure of one thing—she wants to give back to those who have supported her in her journey.
Other winners in this category include runners up Maria Ivanova Konstantinovna and Johan Sanju Sebastian from Russia and the United Arab Emirates, respectively, set to receive $250 prize each. In the second youth category (18-25 years), Mexico’s Frida Garza Mendiolea & her team won the top prize of $500; while Russia’s Nadya Putyakova and Nepal’s Grace Tiwari were the runners up for the $250 prize each. Students from more than 19 countries and across five continents participated in the short video contest. The winning videos will be showcased on IFRPI’s website and social media channels.
To watch Hannah Yin & Hiya Shah’s winning video, click here.
To watch all the winning videos, click here.
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The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and analyze alternative national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and on the poorer groups in those countries Visit: www.ifpri.org