.png)
By Vimalaan Nambier & Sara (Saravanan) Sivanandan
The Hornbill Award 2021 for biodiversity conservation in Malaysia, constituted by Climate Governance Malaysia, is in its final leg. Six NGO finalists working towards conservation of the rich biodiversity of Malaysia, are ready to pitch for the award of RM 105,000, a pool contributed by seven corporate organisations. These six NGOs will pitch for the award on a global platform – the Climate Week NYC.
A unique feature of the award format is the inclusion of student volunteers who help shortlisted NGOs make a 4-minute video which will be screened at the Grand finale on 26th September. The video presentation describes the NGO and the work they do. In the ideation stage of the task, the teams benefitted from the tutelage of Irwan ‘Rogue’ Junaidy, co-founder of the award-winning ‘The R&D Studio’. Rogue was kind enough to volunteer his experiences in storytelling and pitching ideas, and his time to provide the team with much needed critique.
With only one month available to complete the challenge, the finalists were paired with enthusiastic volunteers from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Despite pursuing different fields of graduate studies; the volunteers share the same love for conservation. The combination of zealous youth and seasoned NGOs comes through clearly in their video submissions. View the videos through the links below:
"I'm very impressed with all 6 of the final videos given the limited timeframe. The interns totally understood and applied what they needed to do to elevate a presentation into something that is memorable! Keep up the good work and apply these principles in uni and beyond. Best of luck!"
Irwan 'Rogue' Junaidy, co-founder of The R&D Studio
And finally, a message from CGM to all the students who so passionately contributed their energy and time to making these remarkable videos:
“The completion of the video presentation should not be the end of your foray into conservation. We hope you will take this wonderful experience, and the exposure of having worked with our finalists, to help chart your futures in our efforts for greater sustainability.
THANK YOU for your untiring effort to assist the NGOs to create a wonderful video presentation.
THANK YOU for showing your unique skill and talent to make this award more meaningful.
CGM will award you all with a certificate for your part in the Hornbill Award 2021. We wish you all the very best in your future endeavours!”
Join us on Sunday September 26th to watch the grand finale! Sign up here and we shall see you at the Climate Week New York!