Award Ceremony for the Osaka University Student Movie Contest and International Student SDGs Forum held online

Osaka University held an online commemorative event to celebrate its 90 ^th and Osaka University of Foreign Studies's 100 ^th anniversary, the Award Ceremony for the Osaka University Student Movie Contest and the International Student SDGs Forum, on June 25, 2021.

Student moderators at the host venue (OU)

The Osaka University Student Movie Contest solicited 3-minute film works on the theme of “3 Minutes of Inspiration for Sustainable Development” from students from OU and its overseas partner universities, receiving 69 videos from 10 countries.

Prior to the award ceremony, greetings and a lecture on OU's endeavors to achieve SDGs by Executive Vice President KAWAHARA Genta, as well as passionate messages by KAWASE Naomi (Film Director) and Murali Chandrashekaran (Vice Provost (International), University of British Columbia), were given to students.

Participating panelists

At the award ceremony, 12 prize winners were announced by the following final judges:

Best SDGs Idea Award (Judge: TAKAHASHI Miwako, Director/Secretary General, Kansai NGO Council)

Best Production Award (Judge: Susanne Schermann, Professor, Meiji University)

Grand Prize / President’s Award for Encouragement / Nomination Award / Theme Music Award (Judge: Executive Vice President Kawahara)

Award Ceremony (Grand Prize)

In the forum, after a speech to the students of his own age from SAKUMA Hiroshi, Director of the Virtual Osaka Pavilion, the 2025 World Exposition in Japan, presided over by three OU students, the prizewinners exchanged their opinions in a panel discussion. Finally, President NISHIO Shojiro gave a closing greeting by congratulating the award recipients and thanking all participants, ending the forum on a high note.

President Nishio delivers his closing greeting

This forum welcomed 234 participants from 42 universities (including OU) in 15 countries , making for a wonderful opportunity for individuals from around the world to hold discussions about SDGs online.

Major Prizewinners

Grand Prize: “Amreta: Creating less-plastic world” Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia

Best SDGs Idea Award: “Minimalism, now!” Osaka University, Japan

Best Production Award: “Dream City” Southeast University, China

President’s Award for Encouragement: “Food Waste” Airlangga University Indonesia

You can view all the prizewinning short films at the Student Film Contest YouTube Channel by clicking here .