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Gerald M. Costello |
September 2010
Dear Friends,
Here we are at the beginning of September, a month of change and a quickening of life in the city. The back-to-school sales are pretty much over, and it’s time once again to get down to business.
But here at The Christophers we’ve been holding on to the summertime spirit a bit longer as we reviewed the entries in our annual Video Contest for College Students, and what a pleasant chore that was! This was the 23rd year that The Christophers have sponsored the competion and, as trite as it may sound, the clips that are submitted seem to get better and better each time. Staff members who reviewed the entrants’ work this year were simply wowed by the results and, even though it seems like another cliché, choosing a winner was the hardest part of the task.
When the votes were finally in, though, the top prize of $2,000 went to Jon Duckworth, a student at Colorado State University, for his film Changing the World: One Molecule at a Time. The winning entry is actually a profile of Jon’s twin brother, Chris, a survivor of childhood cancer who’s turned his experience with serious illness into the determination to make the world a better place. Here’s what our Vice President, Mary Ellen Robinson, had to say about Duckworth’s winning effort:
“Chris’s attitude as displayed in this film is the very definition of the Christopher message. Rather than wallow in anger or self-pity, he’s taken the tough hand life dealt him and turned it into something remarkable. He’s truly lighting a candle, rather than cursing the darkness.”
The second-place winner was another crowd-pleaser. Lorie Anne Acio of the University of Oregon won the $1,000 second prize for Cottolengo Filipinio: Children of the Providence, about an orphanage for young disabled boys in the Philippines.
The third-place prize, of $500, and two $100 honorable mentions went to teams of students from the same school – Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa. In addition, students from three different schools won three more honorable mentions.
Want to see the winning films for yourself? They’re available for viewing at http://www.christophers.org/videocontest or at http://www.youtube.com/thechristophers. After you’ve checked them out, we wouldn’t be surprised if you were every bit as impressed as we were!
By the way, if you know a talented college student interested in video production (or if you’re one yourself!), it’s not too early to start thinking about next year’s contest. The Christophers will be announcing all the pertinent details in the near future.
For The Christophers...
Gerald M. Costello
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