B.C. students get creative with the theme of this year’s WorkSafeBC Student Safety Video Contest — “I am doing my part.” 

For a unique look at how young workers can stop the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in the workplace, see the winning entries in the WorkSafeBC Student Safety Video Contest. Each video revolves around the theme of “I am doing my part.” They’re 2 minutes or less — and definitely worth checking out. If you are planning a COVID-19 safety meeting, you might want to show one (or all) of them.

In this year’s edition of the annual contest, students were challenged to work independently on their videos to ensure physical distancing. This meant students created the concepts, self-filmed, and self-edited their videos. All styles were welcome in this competition, including drama, comedy, documentary, music video, stop-motion, and animation.

The winning safety videos

Sophie Nguyen (Grade 12) from Little Flower Academy in Vancouver is the winner of 2021’s Actsafe Aspiring Filmmaker Award for her video, Kind for Our Community. She takes viewers to her workplace and makes the point that her actions don’t just affect her coffee shop co-workers, but also all of their loved ones. Her message is that we need to co-operate and be kind to each other so we can see more of the light at the end of the tunnel.

Robbie Baker (Grade 12) of Hugh Boyd Secondary School in Richmond won for The Power of Precautionary Measures. My son, who watched the videos with me, exclaimed: “Wow! Do you have any idea how many hours it would take to do all that stop-motion?” Robbie’s video shows workers taking proper precautions in a shop, a restaurant, and a construction site — and uses rhymes to tell a story.

The Silent Killer by Luke Chittock (Grade 10) from Rockridge Secondary School in West Vancouver shows us exactly what not to do. One thing I love about this video is how he clones a few versions of himself and overlays them into a classroom. But I’m not going to spoil it for you — just watch it!

Grade 12 student Lenya Dowler, also from Rockridge Secondary, won for COVID-19 News PSA Film. This super-creative video shows the pandemic from the perspective of the virus itself. It stars “Corona” and “Virus,” two cute puppets who describe how humans are stopping them from proliferating.

Botao Chen (Grade 10) from the Richmond Youth Media Program won for Pandemic Teamwork. In this “workplace safety rant,” Botao uses fun and colourful animations — and rhymes — to cover all the most important details about keeping safe during the pandemic. (Kudos to the Richmond Youth Media Program for supporting young people through mentorships and community-building, and for keeping people together online during the pandemic.)

Congratulations to all participants — and also to everyone who took the time to share their message. Thanks to all contest organizers, sponsors, teachers, and parents for supporting these young creators.