Samsung Electronics Holds Awards Ceremony for 'Samsung Junior SW Creation Contest'

At the Samsung Junior SW Creation Contest awards ceremony held on the 28th at Samsung Electronics Seoul R&D Campus, Choi Yoon-ho, President and Head of Management Support Office at Samsung Electronics, delivered a congratulatory speech.

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Samsung Electronics announced on the 29th that it held the award ceremony for the '2020 Samsung Junior SW Creation Contest' the day before at its Seoul R&D Campus to foster software (SW) talent.

Samsung Electronics' representative youth education social contribution program, the 'Samsung Junior SW Creation Contest,' is a competition held since 2015 where elementary, middle, and high school students nationwide recognize social issues around them and solve problems using software.

The contest is characterized by incorporating 'design thinking' education throughout the competition process, a method of viewing and solving problems from the user's perspective, contributing to the improvement of participating students' problem-solving abilities.

Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Samsung Electronics converted the contest, which was previously conducted both online and offline, entirely to an online format. A total of 1,747 teams with 4,604 participants competed, recording a competition rate of 158 to 1.

The award ceremony held the day before was conducted 'untact' with about 80 participants in consideration of the COVID-19 situation.

Students, parents, and teachers who participated in the ceremony had time to reflect on their learning and growth through the contest by viewing the works of the 11 teams that passed the final round (1 Grand Prize team, 3 Excellence Award teams, 3 Merit Award teams, 3 Encouragement Award teams, and 1 Empathy Award team).

This year's Grand Prize was awarded to the 'Pyeongbeomhan Girls' team, composed of 5th graders Chaeyeon Yoon from Saetteum Elementary School in Sejong City and Doyeon Kim from Geumseong Elementary School in Daejeon, for their work 'Talking Mask.' The 'Talking Mask' was created to solve the communication difficulties experienced by a hearing-impaired friend who used to communicate by lip-reading but found it difficult after wearing a mask due to COVID-19.

Choi Yoon-ho, Head of Samsung Electronics' Management Support Office, said, "In the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, talents who solve problems based on creative and logical thinking are important," and added, "Samsung Electronics will continue to support youth so they can grow into future talents."

The Grand Prize-winning Pyeongbeomhan Girls team said, "It was truly rewarding to solve the communication difficulties we experienced with friends on our own, and thanks to the guidance of Samsung Electronics employees who served as mentors, we were able to learn and grow a lot."

The Grand Prize-winning team will receive a prize of 5 million won and IT devices worth 30 million won will be provided to their affiliated schools. Detailed results and introductions of the works can be found on the 'Samsung Junior SW Creation Contest' website.

Under the CSR vision 'Together to the Future! Enabling People,' Samsung Electronics is carrying out youth education-centered social contribution and win-win activities such as the Samsung Junior & Youth Software Academy, Samsung Dream Class, and Samsung Smart School.