JMSC Students Take 2nd Prize in Samsung Competition

Want to improve the environment and make money too, both for yourself and your journalism school?

Stella Ko and Sol Han

Two undergraduate journalism majors at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre have done just that.

Stella Ko and Sol Han, both from South Korea, took 2nd prize in Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow competition, in which students from across Hong Kong shared ideas on how to improve the city’s environment using technology.

Required to create a video showing how their idea would bring about “a greener, smarter Hong Kong,” Ko and Han came up with “smart glass for tomorrow.”

“Our proposed product – smart glass – conserves energy by gaging temperature differences between indoor and outdoor environments,” said Han. “If the glass turns a certain color, like red, you’re using too much energy.”

The two, who were advised by their professor Dr. Masato Kajimoto, made it through several stages of the competition, ultimately winning HK$80,000 in cash and Samsung products for themselves and HK$100,000 in Samsung products for the JMSC.

They were one of 20 teams vying for three top slots that earned them the prizes.

Illustration sketch by Stella Ko

Dr. Kajimoto believes that every journalist needs to be technologically savvy to make it in today’s media environment.

He said that while the contest was about technological ideas, it required the students to be able to present and communicate effectively through text, graphics, audio and video.

“We designed our undergraduate curriculum to nurture future generations of professional communicators with an innovative mindset,” he said. “I thought this contest would be a great platform to put to the test our journalism students’ creativity and the skill sets they’ve acquired through the JMSC program.”

Ko said they drew heavily on their studies at the JMSC to complete the project.

“My television news production class really helped a lot. It was challenging because we had to use a Samsung tablet to video record with a tripod and under a short deadline, so the project helped us learn to work under pressure,” she said.

Samsung will publish the students’ projects in a booklet that will be made available to Hong Kong residents. Winning entries could become candidates for funding from Samsung’s “Realization Plan.”

“We wanted to raise awareness in a way that could build pressure for change,” said Han.