December 4, 2015, Paris, France - Yesterday was the award ceremony for the two finalist of the Global Youth Video Competition, an event organized by theAction for Climate Empowerment (ACE) from the UNFCCC secretariat, in partnership with Television for the Environment (tve) and supported by the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme-UNDP. The winners Saraswati Upadhaya from Nepal and Charles Batte from Uganda were selected among 130 entries from 60 countries from youth between the ages of 18 and 30, and the competition You Tube channel attracted over 100,000 viewers to watch the films.

The ceremony included speeches from Mr. Nick Nuttall, UNFCCC Spokesperson; Mr. Stephen Gold, Global Lead for Climate Change, and GEF Head low emission Climate Resilient Development, United Nations Development Programme; Ms. Cheryl Campbell, Television for the Environment and Mr. John Roome, Senior Director, Climate Change, World bank Group. The two winners Ms. Saraswati Upadhaya, with “Small Effort for Big Change” and Mr. Charles Batte with “Tree Adoption Uganda” received the awards from Mr. Stephen Gold and Mr. John Roome and presented their videos to the audience. The ceremony closed with an announcement from Mr. Max Thabiso Edkins, from Connect4Climate, on the winners of the Film a Day4Climate Action.

The prize for winning the competition is to be part of the UNFCCC communications team covering the UNFCCC COP21 in Paris, a unique opportunity where Saraswati Upadhaya and Charles Batte have been able to learn more about climate change and the negotiations while also honing their journalism skills. The event took place at the Climate Change Studio in the Blue Zone and was attended by over 100 people including high level government officials, members of the civil society and youth organizations, among others.