Local Student Wins Honors in International Video Contest

Kiyomi Morrison of Sherman Oaks, a freshman at Hollywood High School Performing Arts Magnet, has won honorable mention for an original video she produced for the “World of 7 Billion” student video contest, sponsored by Population Connection.

Kiyomi’s video – which uses pieces of candy and stop-motion animation to show how hunger affects the human population – was among 13 winners from 567 submissions created by high school students in 37 states, 18 countries and American Samoa. Kiyomi won $250 and has her video featured on the “World of 7 Billion” website.

Kiyomi won honorable mention in the “Food Security” category. Two other categories included “Global Status of Women and Girls” and “Wildlife Habitat.”

Kiyomi learned about the “World of 7 Billion” contest when her mother saw a posting on the Los Angeles School District’s Facebook page. As an aspiring director, Kiyomi thought it was a perfect opportunity to hone her skills. She chose to submit a video on food security because it “hit close to home” and would be a good subject for stop-motion animation. Kiyomi said she wasn’t aware of population’s impacts on food security, but enjoyed learning through her research.

Kiyomi has created several stop-motion videos, the first when she was only 8 years old. She said it was a painstaking process to move pieces of candy little by little, and said she even “fell asleep in the middle of filming” a few times.

Kiyomi plans to put her prize money toward the purchase of a nicer camera for her filmmaking needs.

“Each year, the submissions for our video contest get better and better,” said John Seager, president of Population Connection. “Kiyomi’s video was particularly unique in using pieces of candy as her medium. And her video made a good point, too, that hunger is intimately linked to human population growth.”

A panel of 21 judges included Ellen Barnard, executive producer, Tomorrow Pictures Inc.; Joe Bish of the Population Media Center; Dr. Joe Fargione, science director of The Nature Conservancy, North America Region; Chris Day, Head of Corporate Communications, United Talent Agency; “Mother: Caring for 7 Billion” filmmakers Joyce Johnson and Christopher Fauchere; John Bard Manulis, president of Foundation Entertainment; documentary filmmaker Lisa Russell of Governess Films; and Seager.

Population Connection is the United States’ largest grassroots population organization, with 140,000 members and supporters. The majority of members live in California. It was founded in 1968 as Zero Population Growth, or ZPG. Population Connection advocates for universal access to voluntary family planning programs to help expand women’s rights, ensure social justice and protect natural resources. Population Connection’s Population Education program provides support for K-12 educators teaching about population and related issues by providing curriculum resources and professional development workshops.

For more information on the “World of 7 Billion” contest and to see the other winning videos, visit www.worldof7billion.org.