• Supports youths advancement in nuclear technologies

ROSATOM, a Russian energy company and a leader in global nuclear technologies, has launched its 6th Annual Online Video Competition for African youths.

The competition, open to students and young professionals between the ages of 18 and 35, encourages the youth to explore nuclear technologies to solve problems for the benefit of their region.

A statement by the company on Wednesday, which stated these, added that the competition running since 2015 had inspired hundreds of young people across the continent who had taken up careers in the nuclear industry.

Chief Executive Officer of ROSATOM Central and Southern Africa, Ryan Collyer, said nuclear technologies are at the heart of many innovations that Africa could benefit greatly from.

He stated, “ROSATOM strongly believes that the youth need to play a vital role in achieving the United Nations Sustainability goals and more specifically in the fight against climate change.

“Rosatom puts a great deal of resources into supporting youths to foster their talents and share their views and ideas. We are confident that nuclear can help to archive the UN Sustainability Goals in Africa, not only through clean and affordable energy, but also through life saving medical procedures and technologically advanced agricultural practices.

“Through this competition, we hope that the youth will educate themselves and their peers on the immense benefits that nuclear technology has to offer.”

Giving some details about the competition, the statement said the participants are encouraged to post their videos on Facebook, following the formal guidelines set out below and submit their applications to the email [email protected] or by the link to online submission form https://tinyurl.com/RosatomAfrica.

It stated tha that the top three winning videos will be selected by an independent expert panel observing various criteria including original content and creativity, overall quality of the video and content, accuracy and relevance of technical content, as well as ability to clearly communicate the content to an audience.

It added the makers of the top three videos would be rewarded with an all-expense paid trip to Russia, where they will get the opportunity to visit several of the country’s world-renowned tourist attractions as well as various nuclear institutions and advanced nuclear facilities.

The firm listed those on the jury as representatives of nuclear enterprises such as ROSATOM, Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA, Egypt), media practitioners like Influence Communications (Egypt) and regional nuclear NGOs Women in Nuclear South Africa (WinSA), African Young Generation in Nuclear (AYGN) and Nuclear Corporation of South Africa (NESCA).

IT gave the deadline for the submission of entries as 31st January, 2021.

“The potential topics for video production are but, not limited to: How can nuclear technologies assist in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) in Africa or your country; how can nuclear technologies help developing countries industrialise; how can non-power related nuclear science and technology benefit your country or community; nuclear in our everyday lives; and myths and fears about nuclear and how to overcome them,” it stated.

As part of the guidelines for the competition,  it said participants could be an individual or a team of one to three people allowed to submit one application; video duration must not exceed 75 seconds; video narration language is either English or features English subtitles; both professional and smartphone videos are acceptable, but the video quality must be at least 720p HD quality; video could be live-action or animation; name(s) of the creator(s) and the name of the university (if so) must be written in the first frame of the video; the video must be published on Facebook with no restrictions on its visibility for any Facebook visitors.

Other guidelines provided that the post must tag @RosatomAfrica and @RosatomMENA Facebook page and contain hashtags: #Nucleardoesntwastetime, #AtomsforAfrica, #RosatomCompetition; no copyright violations (all videos should be compliant with Copyright and Rules for posting Content set up on Facebook); no harmful or offensive behaviour, discrimination of any kind, and being friendly and polite.

It said in the over five years of running the competition, 51 winners had received awards and prizes and one-third of them visited Russian nuclear facilities in Moscow, Obninsk, Tomsk and Voronezh.

The statement said the competition was selected by IAEA for its technical meeting on using social media for public communication and stakeholder involvement for nuclear programmes and was featured in international and regional media such as Reuters, The Guardian, AllAfrica, ESI Africa, Engineering News, The Citizen, and Business Report