After almost 10 months of campaigning for Asian Americans to tell their stories with the theme “All of Us Belong Here” launched in June last year, the 16-man board of judges led by its chairman Joel Wong started this week screening the 72 video entries.

The turn out was so heavy that the judges were split into two groups, one group scoring odd number entries and the other group scoring the even number entries.

The 72 entries are: Romeo Morales, Kien Nguyen, Jojo Liu, Fan Zhang, Liesel Mendoza GRIT, Chinese Women Delta, James Chiao, Christopher Lee, Betty Li, Alfred Chan, Susan Mao, We Dance, Ron Chan, The Oakland Ballet, Xiaoping Yu, Jiayi Li, Liesel Mendoza, Lucy Luo, Deer Video Rancho, Gerrye Wong, Guanglan Zhu, Victor William Chan, Susan Mao, Samantha Tran, Yixin Wang,

Andrew Yuen, Alex Liu, Dee Wee Lim, Chinese chamber AZ, Teresa Li, Historic CA Cemetery, Avalyn Wu, Linling Chen, Bin gong, Abby Wu, Memory Don Sun, JieLi, Hai Kim Le, Jeffery Zhang, Tech for Good, Sidney Dunten, Yu (Cathy) Chang, Kaihua Skyler Chong, Jike Cheng, Ellie Wong, Ly Pham Rivera, Lauryn Chew, William Chui, David Louie, ICAN,

Michelle Ahl, Vietnamese Culture Club, Ella Ai-Vy Nguyen, Kumu Gupta, Xia Che, Quyen Vuong, Scan Wang, 888 Jasion, Jessie Han, The Abalone Village, Yuan Foundation, My Twin Son’s dream, Dr. Xiu Bao Chang, Growing Up Shaolin, Asian, or American, Sophia Chang, We’re All Scared, Peace Messengers SF, Cathy Chang, What Should I Do, and Calligraphy Belonging.

The members of the board of judges are Co-chair and chairman of the board of judges Joel Wong; Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gilmor; Milpitas Mayor Carmen Montano; Filipino American Media Leader Don Orozco; Mattie Scariot, Director of the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival; Former Assembly member  of the State of California Kansen Chu; Piyush Malik, Startup Executive, entrepreneur, board adviser; Chris Norwood, President, Board of  Milpitas Unified School District; David Mosby, CEO of e21 Academy, speaker and author; Media Editor Sandy Close; Beverly Molina, Santa Clara Firefighter and author; Tony Shyu, Hollywood award winning TV and Film Director; Richard Flanders, Rotary International District 5170 Governor, attorney; David Louie, Post Editor, Reporter, ABC-owned KGO-TV; Maggie Liu, Founder of Brotherhood Cup Foundation; and Elpidio R. Estioko, author, educator PR pro, journalist and author of  the book “Unlocking the Chain of Poverty: In Pursuit of the American Dream” now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Xlibris Publishing.

This year’s video competition was chaired by Diana Weiping Ding, founder and chair, Asian American Stories, CEO of Ding Ding TV; Joel Wong, president of National Asian American United (NAAUnited) and Francis Espiritu, president/publisher, Philippine News Today, as co-chairs.

The award ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 2, 2024 to be held at the HL Peninsula Restaurant, 136 Ranch Dr., Milpitas, CA 95035 from 5:30 pm.

During this ceremony, the sponsors will spotlight individuals who have made significant contributions to Asian American literature, film, art and culture.

The organizers said: “It will be an evening filled with joy, appreciation, and recognition, for the talented storytellers who have shared their unique experience and perspectives with the world and a celebration of the vibrant and diverse narratives of the Asian American community.”

There will be two groups of winners: the youth category (aged 12 – 18) and the adult (aged 19 and above). A special prize is added for the viewers’ choice and excellence awards. The contest focused on the theme: “All of Us Belong Here.”

First prize winners (Adult and Youth); $5,000 funding or a $500 check each; second prize winners (Adult & Youth): $2,500 funding or $250 check each; and Third prize winners (Youth & Adult): $1,000 funding or a $100 check each.

Then we have the viewer’s choice winner (Adult & Youth): $1,000 funding or $100 each and 10 Excellence Awards at $100 each.

The board of judges will meet via Zoom meeting on Sunday, April 14, 2024 to compile the judge’s individual scoreboards to identify the top scorers from which the judges will pick and make the final decisions on the winners. Names of winners will be engraved in their individual trophies and there will be audio-visual presentation of winning entries during the awarding.

Sponsor and community partners include the Silicon Valley Community Media, Ding Ding TV, Philippine News Today, Brotherhood Cup Foundation, California State Library, Lily Lijun Li, NAA United, Fang Wu, IPAA, Alexander’s Steakhouse, Wonder Medical and Foundation Educational, Supervisor Otto Lee, People with Empathy, Poppy Jasper, APALI, India Currents, ACYPA, ICAN, ASEI, Phu Nu, Blue Dot, Asian American United Coalition, kenson, ethnic media Services, among others.

The award ceremony will showcase the award-winning videos and creators, along with a performance that highlights the culture and heritage of American children.   

It will be fun! See you there!