Bangalore techie wins State Dept global online video contest

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Mar 17 (PTI) A Bangalore-based techie working
with an American multinational is among the four winners of
the US State Department's global online video contest held to
encourage cross-cultural understanding and community building.

Bijoy Thangaraj, 23, a software engineer working for the
Honeywell Technology Solutions in Bangalore, won the award for
his three minute video titled 'My Culture + Your Culture =
World of Wonder', the State Department announced Tuesday.

Held by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs (ECA), the contest was co-sponsored by the
Adobe Youth Voices initiative of the Adobe Foundation.

The other three winners of this global contest are Jose
Vinícius Reis Gouveia (16) from Brazil for his video entitled
'Human Colours', Grant Jirka (14) of Columbus for 'Winning
Team' and Tim Peters (22) of Illinois for 'A Friend in
Nanjing'.

While the international winners will receive a two-week
all-expenses-paid exchange programme to the US, the American
winners will receive the same to an overseas destination. They
will receive multi-media software provided by the Adobe
Foundation.

According to the information available on the State
Department website, Thangaraj's hobbies include composing
music, playing the guitar and keyboard. He has recorded
instrumental albums and is currently working on a gospel
album. (

Thangaraj enjoys creating recordings and videos that
impact people. In future, he wishes to start his own media
production company.

The contest judges were musician, performer and author
Toni Blackman; actress and Founder of the Cancer Schmancer
Movement Fran Drescher; graphic artist Milton Glaser;
President of the Egyptian Cultural Civic Education
Organization Raafat Khalid; and Founder and former Co-Chairman
of New Line Cinema and Principal Unique Features Bob Shaye.

The initiative was launched by ECA on December 1, 2008,
to encourage cross-cultural community building and mutual
understanding via the Web and social media platforms and to
attract new members to the groundbreaking 'ExchangesConnect'
social networking site.

Since its launch in October 2008, 'ExchangesConnect' has
drawn over 8,400 members from 170 countries. PTI