Video contest attests destination Korea

From left, Jeong-hyeon Seo of Newsweek Korea, Jay Song of Chrysler Korea, Bruce Haines of Cheil Communications, Fabien Tran Minh, winner of the "Korea Awaits!" video contest, Keith Brett of Between Restaurant and Carmen Schuetz of Lufthansa German Airlines at Between Restaurant in Seoul on Oct. 12. / Courtesy of 10 Magazine

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By Agnes Yu

Technology has made video recording and imaging simple enough for almost anyone to channel their inner Spielberg. Utilized as an exponential method of expression, videos can be made at any moment, in any context, with even Korea for inspiration.

In its second edition, the video contest hosted by 10 Magazine was based on the premise of its slogan, "Korea Awaits!" Foreign residents dotting the entire nation were encouraged to reflect on their personal experiences while living in the land of kimchi and the morning calm, then basically point and shoot footage. Contestants had the month of September to create and submit a video, "as a means to show family, friends and others what awaits them when they visit Korea". Life abroad aroused many creative spirits and resulted in many diverse videos vying for a variety of prizes. The winning entry was chosen in a two tier selection process.

From Oct. 2 to 9 over 1,500 people viewed the submissions and voted to narrow down to select the top 10 videos:

● Virtual Korea

● Korea, I Wanna See Ya

● Korea, Your New Favorite Thing

● Two Koreas

● Two Minutes in Korea

● Come Visit Me

● T he Korean Time Machine

● Top 10

● Timelapse Korea

● Korea: Small Country, Big Things to Do

Evaluated based on persuasiveness, creativity, entertainment value and English ability, five judges from various backgrounds were hard pressed to make the difficult decision of choosing the best video from the 10 most popular.
The five judges were Christian Schindler, general manager of Lufthansa German Airlines, Greg Phillips, president and CEO of Chrysler Korea, Bruce Haines, COO of Cheil Communications, Jeong-hyeon Seo, editor of Newsweek Korea and Keith Brett, co-owner of Between Restaurant.

On Oct. 12 at a ceremony held at Between restaurant in Itaewon, Seoul, after a screening of all top 10 videos, Fabien Tran Minh of France was announced the winner for his, "Two Minutes in Korea", and awarded the grand prize of a round-trip ticket to Europe by Lufthansa, presented by Ms. Carmen Schuetz.

The remaining contestants each received different prizes such as a two-night stay at the Courtyard Marriott Seoul at Times Square, tickets to the non-verbal performance Nanta and dinner certificates to Between. "All of the top ten videos were winners because all of them were tremendous at making winning videos about visiting Korea", said Stephen Revere, the managing editor of 10 Magazine.

"Korea is a beautiful country with great culture, food and people", noted Phillips from Chrysler Korea which was a key sponsor of the "Korea Awaits!" contest. "All the videos presented today go a long way in terms of putting Korea on the map as a great place to visit".

Distributed all over Korea and released monthly, 10 Magazine offers tourists and foreign residents a comprehensive calendar of events and relevant articles on how to enjoy their time abroad in English. For more information, visit www.10mag.com