Presenting: KIDS FIRST! Youth Film Critics for 2012
Ready to start their year of reviewing films, interviewing actors and filmmakers, and blogging their perceptions, the 2012 KIDS FIRST! Youth Film Critics are here!
With a “Congratulations” to everyone who prepared the written and videotaped review they needed to enter, KIDS FIRST! is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 KIDS FIRST! Film Critics Search.
Age 6-8
Morgan Bertsch of Northridge, Calif.
Cheyenne Nguyen of Northridge, Calif.
Alternate: Aira Dani of Atlanta, Ga.
Age 9-10
Casey Chandler of Santa Fe, N.M.
Talia Rashba of Oak Park, Calif.
Alternate: Camille Bajema of Santa Fe, N.M.
Age 11-12
Brianna Beaton of Clermont, Fla.
Julianna Noone of Warwick, N.Y.
Alternate: Julia Chestnut of Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Alternate: Hunter Willow Jones of Kutztown, Penn.
Age 13-15
Victoria Burns of Atlanta, Ga.
Blakes Hawes of Kailua, Hi.
Alternate: Jennifer Huntoon of Bloomington, Ind.
Alternate: Ajay Sharma of Bloomington, Ind.
The focus of the KIDS FIRST! film critics program is teaching children healthy media habits as well as strong critical thinking, writing and public speaking skills that will stay with them for a lifetime. The KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Boot Camp, held annually in Los Angeles, teaches kids the skills to become an entertainment reporter.
Six celebrity judges selected this year’s winners from 24 finalists who were determined by view voting on WonderworldTV.com/kidsfirst. This year’s judges were Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theaters and Magnolia Pictures; Ben Lyons, E! film critic and frequent contributor to “Good Morning America”; Thelma Adams, a Yahoo contributing editor and author of the “Thelma Adams on Reel Women” column that runs on AMC filmcritic.com and who was the film critic at Us Weekly for 11 years following six years at the New York Post; and George Pennacchio of the ABC7 Eyewitness News team in Los Angeles KABC-TV.
Industry supporters of the KIDS FIRST! Film Critics Campaign are Amazon.com, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video and WonderWorld Entertainment. Campaign support also comes from national nonprofit organizations that include the National Education Association, National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Council of Women’s Organizations, with a cumulative membership of more than 17 million.
