Yesterday’s b@s videochallenge award ceremony in Berlin honored the best entries in eight different categories. Students from Bruchköbel, Fulda, Hanau, Meissen, Oberursel (Taunus), Wiesbaden, and Milan were recognized for their company analyses and business recommendations.

Berlin, September 20, 2024. With their analyses of companies in video form, participants in the b@s videochallenge proved their creativity, understanding of business, and media savvy. Using imaginative forms of presentation, the students analyzed the success factors and risks of the participating companies MediaMarktSaturn and NFL Germany as well as the aid organization Welthungerhilfe and developed visionary recommendations for action. The video competition of the educational initiative business@school by the international management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) took place for the eighth time this year. Now the best videos were honored at an award ceremony, with a total of eight prizes awarded. Elke Büdenbender, lawyer and wife of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, praised the student teams: “As patron, I am always impressed by the creativity and commitment with which the participants in the b@s videochallenge look at current issues and process them in their videos. Their contributions demonstrate not only a high level of media competence, but also the importance of practice-oriented learning in order to meet the demands of professional life. The young people display solution-oriented mindsets and working styles. These skills are invaluable—not only for their professional future, but also for our society as a whole.”

Here are the winners of the company prizes:

Jimmy (16) and Zihao (17) from Karl-Rehbein-Schule in Hanau.

Charlotte (17), Katharina (17), Marko (18), and Marlene (18) from Karl-Rehbein-Schule in Hanau.

Laura (14) and Lisa-Marie (15) from Gymnasium Oberursel.

Ted (15), Pauline (15), and Charlotte (15) from Leibnizschule in Wiesbaden won the prize in the category “Company of Your Choice” with a video about Deutsche Telekom AG.

First Foreign Language Award goes to a student team from Italy
The Foreign Language Award was presented this year for the first time to a team that recorded a video in a language other than its native one. Alexander (17), Davide (18), Gabriele (17), Zoe (18), and Federica (18) from Collegio San Carlo in Milan received the new award for their English-language analysis of MediaMarktSaturn. The five students traveled to Berlin from Italy for the award ceremony.

Special prize for a sustainability focus
This year, the GREENTECH FESTIVAL SPECIAL PRIZE for the best video with a focus on sustainability was awarded for the second time. GREENTECH FESTIVAL founder Marco Voigt presented the prize to Simon (16), Ben (17), and Laurana (18) from Lichtenberg-Oberstufengymnasium Bruchköbel and from Karl-Rehbein-Schule in Hanau for their video about MediaMarktSaturn.

Triple award for a young trio
Ted, Pauline, and Charlotte from Leibnizschule in Wiesbaden mobilized their school community to participate in the voting. Their reward: a triple award and a lasting impression on the stage. In addition to the prize for their analysis of a company of their choice, Ted, Pauline, and Charlotte received the Youngster Award for their video about Deutsche Telekom AG. This special prize awarded for the best video up to ninth grade is meant to encourage interest in business topics and fun working with a camera particularly among younger students. In addition, the public was able to vote on the best videos for a one-week period. Ted, Pauline, and Charlotte’s film came out on top in that vote as well. The trio was therefore delighted to receive a triple award at the award ceremony—an accomplishment they worked very hard to achieve: “We tried to rally all our friends and acquaintances to vote through our social media profiles. We were also allowed to display QR codes at our school so that the entire school community was able to vote for us easily,” reports Pauline.

Exchange and recognition instead of competition
Although the prizes for the winning teams were highly coveted—a trip to the Xperion gaming paradise, an exclusive look behind the scenes at the Welthungerhilfe headquarters in Bonn, tickets for this year’s NFL game in Munich, a visit to the GREENTECH FESTIVAL in Berlin, and other team experiences—there were no signs of resentment when the winning teams were announced. The young people paid tribute to each other with big applause and discussed their videos with each other.
 

The teams at the finals came from the following schools:

·         Collegio San Carlo Milan, Italy

·         Gymnasium Oberursel

·         Karl-Rehbein-Schule Hanau

·         Lichtenberg-Oberstufengymnasium Bruchköbel

·         Leibnizschule Wiesbaden

·         Sächsisches Landesgymnasium St. Afra zu Meißen

·         Winfriedschule Fulda

Next round starts January 2025
With the b@s videochallenge, the educational initiative business@school has created an offer for students from all types of schools. The task is to analyze one of four companies, based on four questions, in a four-minute video. In the video competition, 14- to 20-year-olds can demonstrate their business and media savvy—and win great prizes. The next round of the competition starts in January 2025.