Congratulations to the winning student filmmakers in the 2024-2025 World of 8 Billion international student video contest! These young visionaries are committed to changing the world for the better, and the video contest ensures their important messages will be heard.
Through one-minute videos packed with research, storytelling, and solutions, students explored the intersection of population growth and three global topics:
- Child Wellbeing: The physical, mental, and emotional state of children greatly depends on their access to resources, the safety of their communities, and the reliability of the services around them.
- Rainforest Ecosystems: Climate change, mining, agriculture, and deforestation threaten the biodiversity and health of rainforests, which not only provide habitat for wildlife, but critical resources that humans rely on and benefit from.
- Sanitation: People have always struggled for proper sanitation – access to clean water for drinking and cleaning, as well as a system for safely handling human waste. Sanitation is crucial for public health and has been recognized as a human right.
Eighteen creative and solution-driven videos took home the top prizes – global recognition and cash awards. The competition drew more than 4,600 students from 45 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and 67 countries.
Linked below are the first-place videos in the World of 8 Billion student competition. Watch all of the winning videos, and read about the student filmmakers, on the contest website.
High School – 1st Place Student Videos
Immunizing the World: Solar Powered Vaccine Refrigerators by Ha Jin Sung of Wallingford, CT
(Child Wellbeing)
The Bioremediation Blueprint: Restoring Rainforests by Hannah Allas and Anwitha Aruva of Santa Clara, CA (Rainforest Ecosystems)
Flushing Out the Crisis: Ending Open Defecation in Uganda by Lynette Mujaasi Kaye of Jinja Uganda (Sanitation)
Middle School – 1st Place Student Videos
Brighter Future for Every Child by Ismatulloh Bakhtiyorov, Yulduz Juliboyeva, and Rukhshona Isakova of Jizzakh Uzbekistan (Child Wellbeing)
Rainforest Deforestation by Alisha Wald of Sante Fe, NM (Rainforest Ecosystems)
Rain, Runoff, and 8 Billion: How Population Growth Pollutes Our Water by David and Danny Unatin of Manhattan Beach, CA (Sanitation)
World of 8 Billion Student Video Contest
The World of 8 Billion student contest is a powerful learning tool to authentically engage students in global issues they care about. The contest will be back with new topics for the 2025-2026 school year in early September.
Teachers: Sign-up to receive updates so you and your students can participate next year!