'Moving towards an era of conveying social issues in 60 seconds': RICE MEDIA CAMP, where 300 students applied to report via short videos, announces its Grand Prize winner

Tomoshi Bito Co., Ltd. (Location: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture; President and CEO: Tomoyuki Hirose), which operates 'RICE Media', a short video media specialized in social issues and SDGs, held the first 'RICE MEDIA CAMP' in March 2026. This is a program where students report on social issues on-site and broadcast them as approximately 60-second short videos. Over 300 applications were gathered from across the country, and ultimately 160 high school and university students participated. They conducted on-site reporting on four social issues across the country as themes, and produced and distributed short videos. At the closing ceremony held on Sunday, April 5, 2026, the judging results were announced, and the Grand Prize was awarded to Yuka Aoyagi, a high school senior who reported on the issue of clothing waste.

## 'RICE MEDIA CAMP': A New Way to Engage with Social Issues Where Students Become the 'Senders'

RICE Media's mission is to 'break through the lack of awareness of social issues'. We broadcast various social issues, such as environmental, educational, and regional issues, in an interesting and easy-to-understand manner using the short video format.

In recent years, as the center of information contact has shifted to SNS and short videos, information regarding social issues tends to be perceived as 'difficult' or 'irrelevant to me', leading to the problem that it does not reach people sufficiently.

Given this background, we launched 'RICE MEDIA CAMP' as an initiative to present a new way of engagement: moving from being 'receivers' of social issues to 'senders'. In this program, students interview companies and sites tackling social issues and broadcast them as a single short video. Based on RICE Media's know-how, we provide an opportunity to learn practically from structuring and editing to broadcasting.

In the inaugural Spring 2026 tournament, over 300 applications were received for a capacity of 160 people, highlighting the high level of interest in social issues among the younger generation. Participating students were divided into four social issue themes nationwide and conducted on-site interviews. The completed videos were distributed on SNS, and judging was conducted based on view counts and the quality of the content.

Click here for details on RICE MEDIA CAMP 2026 Spring

## The First Grand Prize Winner is High School Senior Yuka Aoyagi, Theme is 'Clothing Waste Issue'

At RICE MEDIA CAMP, the videos broadcast by students are judged based on various evaluation criteria such as view counts, originality, and information accuracy, and awards are presented.