Trend Micro Asks Students How Their Relationship to the Internet Has Changed During COVID-19

"What's Your Story" 2021 competition asks: "How Did the Internet Help You Get Through this Past Year?"

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Feb 09, 2021, 10:00 ET

DALLAS, Feb. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), the leader in cloud security, through its Internet Safety for Kids and Families (ISKF) program, today launched its What's Your Story? 2021 video competition. The annual contest is designed to give students a platform to educate others and nurture safer, more responsible use of the internet. Unlike most video contests, participants must both submit an entry and demonstrate that they can be an advocate for their own message. Contestants are asked to encourage their fans and communities to view and rate their entries as evidence of this advocacy.

This year's challenge is to create an impactful video around the question, "How did the internet help you get through this past year?" While life changed dramatically for everyone, we are interested to understand how students have responded to the challenges they faced as a result of the pandemic. Our past experience with the contest has shown us young people often see things very differently than adults, and we are eager to bring their stories forward.

"After this past year, we should reflect on what we've learned about our relationship to the internet," said Lynette Owens, global director of the Internet Safety for Kids and Families program for Trend Micro. "We believe students have valuable insights that we should use to guide us in our work to make the internet a better place for all."

Participants from Canada and the U.S. can begin submitting entries as early as February 9, 2021 and will have until April 20, 2021 to submit their videos. All videos must be submitted by 11:59:59 p.m. PT on this date. Finalists will be notified on or about May 4, 2021, with the winners announced on or about May 18, 2021. A total of three grand prizes will be awarded; $10,000 will be awarded to the winning student entry – of which $5,000 will go to the student and $5,000 to their school. The best Canadian and best U.S. school entries will each receive $5,000 awards. Runner up prizes of $1,000 each will be issued to two student entries as well as two school entries.

Selecting the winners of What's Your Story? 2021 will be a panel of judges from a variety of organizations including the Cyberbullying Research Center, ConnectSafely, MediaSmarts, the National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), NewsGuard and TikTok.

Contestants can post general comments under #WYS2021 and are asked to promote their entries under #HeresMyStory2021. For more information on What's Your Story? 2021, please visit: https://whatsyourstory.trendmicro.com/

About Trend Micro Internet Safety for Kids & Families
Founded in 2008, the mission of Trend Micro's Internet Safety for Kids & Families is to enable and empower kids, parents, teachers, and schools around the world to make the Internet a safe and secure place for today's youth. ISKF does this through a worldwide employee volunteer program, grants and donations to eligible organizations, strategic partnerships with organizations working to protect youth, educational programs, and a robust series of online tips and solutions for parents, educators, and youth. For ISKF's free Internet safety tips, tools and advice, visit: https://internetsafety.trendmicro.com

About Trend Micro
Trend Micro, a global leader in cybersecurity, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Leveraging over 30 years of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro enables resilience for businesses, governments, and consumers with connected solutions across cloud workloads, endpoints, email, IIoT, and networks. Our XGen™ security strategy powers our solutions with a cross-generational blend of threat-defense techniques that are optimized for key environments and leverage shared threat intelligence for better, faster protection. With over 6,700 employees in 65 countries, and the world's most advanced global threat research and intelligence, Trend Micro enables organizations to secure their connected world. www.trendmicro.com

SOURCE Trend Micro Incorporated