The second year of the Asian American Tell Your Story Video Contest 2025 with this year’s theme: “My Gift to America”, ended March 31, 2025. The members f the board of judges chaired by Joel Wong are now busy going through the entries (19 for the youth category and 74 for the adult category), scoring them to determine the winners.

The contest was launched has year with 72 Asian Americans participating with a theme: “All of Us Belong Here”.

The Silicon Valley Ethnic Media, last year, noted that,that there are many successful Asian American immigrants in the US but we didn’t know how they were able to overcome the struggles and challenges they went through to succeed. Why? Because there was no medium or vehicle that put them together so the Asian American community will know and can learn from their experience.

That’s why in June, last year, the Silicon Valley Ethnic Media launched the program with the goal of encouraging immigrants to tell their stories and how they succeeded so other immigrants and the whole community would know and follow their feat.

The community responded. The turnout 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 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.

Judging will focus on inspiration, storyline, creativity, and technical skills and the judging committee’s decision is final.

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 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.”

What are at stake? 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.

To formalize the winners, 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.

Sponsors 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. In sharing the contestant’s 1-minute video, board of judges chair Joel Wong said: “The contestant will share his/her story with millions of people; engage with acclaimed filmmakers and influential leaders; get a ticket (worth $150) to the award ceremony; win $5,000 (total $20,000) in grants for the contestant’s future production; win a sponsored trip to Washington DC by UCA; and 1st 20 submissions will receive AAS T-shirt.”  

Celebrating Asian American Stories recognizes AAPI Story Tellers which kicks-off the Asian-Pacific Heritage Month. The award ceremonies will be on May 1, 2025 to be held at the HL Peninsula Restaurant, 1365 Ranch Dr., Milpitas, CA 95035.

This year’s competition will be highlighted by Olympic skating legend Kristi Yamaguchi who agreed to participate in the legendary Storyteller Award.

California State Representative Ash Kalra, on the other hand, in an interview with Diana Ding at the Ding Ding TV Studio in Santa Clara, emphasized the importance of the contest, not only for Asian Americans, but to all Americans especially immigrants in the US who are the backbones of the country. He also urged everyone to participate in the contest by telling their stories, so others can learn from them. As I See It, it is a learning opportunity for all!

Congratulations, in advance, to all winners!