'We Deliver Real Education' wins grand prize
"Let's stop school violence with our own stories."
The winners of the 2026 North Gyeongsang Youth School Violence Prevention UCC and Short-Form Video Contest have been announced. The competition invited students to address the realities of school violence and the need for prevention through video, encouraging peers to connect with one another's experiences and work together to eliminate the harm it causes.
Organized by Yeollin Media Group and sponsored by the North Gyeongsang Province Office of Education, the contest was designed to give young people a platform to examine school violence from their own perspective and convey messages of prevention and relationship repair through video content.
This year's judging panel evaluated entries individually on criteria including thematic relevance, artistic quality, creativity, communicative impact and overall completeness, then combined those scores for a final ranking.
The top prize went to "We Deliver Real Education," produced by students at Bonghyeon Elementary School, which received the highest combined score. Two gold prizes were awarded — to "The Secret of Exclusion: The Magic of Conveying Feelings" and "The Duck of School Violence Prevention," both from Hyeongok Elementary School.
"We Deliver Real Education" examines, through students' own eyes, how violence in school life can become normalized or escalate into further violence.
The work earned consistently strong marks from the panel across multiple categories, particularly thematic relevance, artistic quality, creativity and communicative impact.
"The Secret of Exclusion: The Magic of Conveying Feelings," produced by sixth-graders at Hyeongok Elementary School, won a gold prize. The work addresses the weighty subjects of school violence and exclusion from an elementary school student's perspective while keeping the importance of relationships and communication at its center. Judges praised both its narrative structure and its expressive approach.
"The Duck of School Violence Prevention," made by fourth-graders at Hyeongok Elementary School, also took a gold prize. Judges said the entry struck a balance between artistic quality and communicative impact by presenting familiar school violence prevention messages through materials and expressions accessible to young children.
A notable trend among this year's entries was a move away from formulaic prevention campaign videos, with many students experimenting with different visual storytelling approaches — drama series formats, interviews, short-form clips and symbolic devices.
"A Prank Done in the Name of Friendship," submitted by students at Haemaru Middle School, highlighted how behavior casually dismissed among friends can constitute violence for the person on the receiving end. The entry delivered its message in students' everyday language, arguing that school violence is not limited to physical acts and that the harm experienced by the victim — and the damage to relationships — matters more than the perpetrator's intent.
"Going Around, the Next One Was Me," by sixth-graders at Geumoh Elementary School, used a cyclical structure to show how standing by while others are victimized can ultimately come back to the bystander, prompting reflection on bystander responsibility and the role of community.
The bronze prize winners — "Our Interview" and "The Miracle Made by Conversation" — each captured students' thoughts on school violence and the importance of communication within relationships through distinct approaches.
"The Miracle Made by Conversation," produced by a student at Seonju Elementary School, moved beyond depicting the problem itself to focus on how dialogue can change relationships and open paths to resolution.
The encouragement prize went to "We Are Here, Between Heart and Heart," which drew on activity sheets and picture-diary formats written by the students themselves to document a counseling process and personal reflections. Judges responded warmly to its sincere and considerate message, and noted the effective use of background music and key phrases presented as subtitles to engage viewers.
The judging panel observed that this year's entries went beyond framing school violence as a simple dynamic between victim and perpetrator, instead expanding the lens to cover issues students genuinely encounter in school life — bystander behavior, exclusion, pranks between friends, verbal abuse, broken relationships and the struggle to communicate.
Works that wove real relational experiences and emotions into their narratives, rather than stopping at instructional messaging, received relatively higher marks.
Entries that moved past simply illustrating the severity of school violence or repeating existing prevention campaign messages — and instead surfaced students' own critical thinking, concrete solutions or depictions of how relationships can change — were rated more favorably.
"What makes these works meaningful is that young people did not treat school violence as simply a problem for adults to solve, but instead found it within their own classrooms and friendships and expressed it through video," the panel said in its overall assessment. "We hope to see even more works in the future that go beyond showing violent situations and carry practical messages of resolution — how to stop being a bystander, how to ask for help, and how relationships can be repaired."
The winners, with names listed in Korean alphabetical order, are: grand prize — "We Deliver Real Education," Bonghyeon Elementary School sixth-graders Nam Gyeong-min, Lee Min-su, Lee Yun-seong, Lee Jun-ho, Jeon Yeong-gwang, Ji Ye-seong and Cha So-mi; gold prize — "The Secret of Exclusion: The Magic of Conveying Feelings," Hyeongok Elementary School sixth-graders Woo Da-el, Lee Da-yeon, Lee Yun-ju and Lee Ha-on; gold prize — "The Duck of School Violence Prevention," Hyeongok Elementary School fourth-graders Park Gyu-bin, Lee Su-yeon and Ha Ga-bin; silver prize — "A Prank Done in the Name of Friendship," Haemaru Middle School third-graders Shin A-ra, Kim Su-in, Kim Hyun-ji, Ryu Ye-jun and Lee Na-gyeong, and second-graders Kim Yun-seul, Im Ga-yun and Hwang Chae-a; silver prize — "Going Around, the Next One Was Me," Geumoh Elementary School sixth-graders Kang Yu-seon, Kim Ru-a, Jeong Ji-yu and Heo Eun-seo; bronze prize — "Our Interview," Dosong Middle School third-graders Park Chae-bin and Han Ji-a; bronze prize — "The Miracle Made by Conversation," Seonju Elementary School third-grader Sha Clara; encouragement prize — "We Are Here, Between Heart and Heart," Pohang Steelworks Elementary School sixth-grader Kang Jin-seo.
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