The Office for the Promotion of Diversity and Sustainability hosted a video contest “Sustainability Through Your Lens Short Film Contest”. The contest was designed to let participants express their own ideas about sustainability through 90-second videos to share with the rest of the world.

The theme of the contest was “Sustainability Through Your Lens: How I See Sustainability.” Sustainability is a concept that is interpreted and experienced differently by everyone. This project was realized out of the desire of our student and staff members to create a space where people could connect beyond language barriers by engaging with these diverse viewpoints.

Submissions were accepted for the contest for a period of three months, with the start date being in July 2025. A unique rule required that entries use absolutely no linguistic expressions, such as subtitles or narration. Participants were tasked with conveying the concept of “sustainability” through the medium of visual expression alone.

As a result of inviting participation from our partner institutions worldwide, we received approximately 150 submissions from 31 universities in 21 countries.

■Grand Prize – The highest honor awarded to the most outstanding entry
・“Revitalization Obergasse”
Valeria Marina Klein (University of Liechtenstein)

■Excellence Award – The second-highest honor
・“Reimagine!”
Hans Gabriel, The Philippines Cordial (University of the Philippines Diliman, Burst Creative Studio)

■Inspiration Award – Awarded to entries that offer new perspectives or insights
・“Piece by Piece”
Jaziz Keziah Sison Grio (University of the Philippines Diliman, Burst Creative Studio)

・“Sustainability through Generations”
Bessonneau Nathan (University of Angers, France)

・“Every Choice Matters”
Moka Yada and Aoi Tobe (Faculty of Foreign Studies, Sophia University)

■Special Commendation – An award established specifically upon strong recommendation by the judges
・“STAR”
Anna Tryfonova (Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University)

Professor Kyoko Yokoyama, Vice President for Student and General Affairs personally presented awards to the attending winners.

The winner of the Grand Prize, Valeria, shared her thoughts on her project, stating, “I took on the challenge of creating a community-based, sustainable approach to bring vitality and connection to the quiet alleys of my hometown. This experience has reaffirmed my belief that sustainability must be rooted in the local community.”

The judges praised the passion and ingenuity evident in each entry. They noted the creators’ commitment to sustainability and their ability to convey messages through video. The judges also recognized the richness of perspectives born from diverse cultural backgrounds. On the day of the event, Professor John Williams, Dean of the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Foreign Languages, and Rina Mirai, a model and advocate for sustainable living, took the stage as representatives of the judging panel. They offered their overall comments from their respective viewpoints.

Mizuki Silva Hatta, a student-staff member who served as the host, concluded the event by expressing her hope that “this initiative will serve as an opportunity for everyone to recognize that sustainability is not something special, but rather something to be integrated into daily life by connecting it to one’s own perspective and choices.” She also stated that the Office for the Promotion of Diversity and Sustainability will continue to advance sustainability initiatives while respecting diversity. The awards ceremony was a great success.

As part of the “Be Smart Tokyo” initiative, a project promoted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to implement smart services aimed at solving social concerns, we introduced “TranSpeech,” a multilingual simultaneous translation solution provided by VMFI Inc., at this awards ceremony. By providing simultaneous translation between Japanese and English, we created an environment in which speakers and participants could interact without feeling limited by language barriers

Yuta Aihara, a student-staff member who was in charge of this project, stated, “As a contest initiated by Sophia University, we hoped to create a space where the diverse perspectives on sustainability perceived by students around the world could come together to intersect. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed ideas and shared them with us. I believe the contest’s requirements, such as ‘approximately 90 seconds’ and ‘expression without words,’ have proven to be key to sharing these works with the world. I hope that more people will connect with the thoughts embedded in each entry, reflect on sustainability in their own way, and find inspiration to take their first step forward.”