YES FOUNDATION to impact 1.2 million youths through YES! i am the CHANGE 2016

• Fourth edition of the 101 – Hour Social Filmmaking Challenge will have 4 national filmmaking categories: Student, Corporate, Non-Profit and Open
• Foundation has launched International Social Filmmaking Challenge for the Indian diaspora and Social Photostory Challenge
• Foundation will attempt two Guinness World Records for the World’s Largest Photography Competition and Largest Online Album of Handwritten Notes
• Total cash prizes worth INR 85 lakh to be awarded to winners and best films screened worldwide

August 9, 2016, Pune: YES FOUNDATION, the social development arm of YES BANK, has launched the fourth edition of YES! i am the CHANGE 101- Hour Social Filmmaking Challenge, a nationwide mindset transformation movement that empowers youth to act as a catalyst for social and personal transformation while creating invaluable communication resources for Non-Profits (NGOs) through 3-min social films. There are 4 categories of participation in the 101-Hour Social Filmmaking Challenge: Student, Corporate, Non-Profit and Open.

In this edition, the Foundation has introduced two new challenges to enable large-scale participation of youth in the movement and also attempt two Guinness World Records:

• YES! i am the CHANGE International Social Filmmaking Challenge which has been launched to provide the Indian diaspora youth a platform to engage with social causes through the powerful medium of films
• YES! i am the CHANGE 101-Hour Social Photostory Challenge, where individuals will narratestories of change through 5 photographs. All photographs received from participants will make a  Guinness World Record attempt for the World’s Largest Photography Competition
• To amplify the impact of this social change challenge, YES Foundation will encourage youth to make a commitment towards environmental sustainability in the form of handwritten pledges. For every pledge received, YES BANK, supporter of YES! i am the CHANGE, will plant a sapling. With a huge number of participation from across the country YES Foundation will attempt a Guinness World Record for the Largest Online Album of the Handwritten Notes

Winners will receive total cash prizes worth INR 85 (eighty-five) lakh. An esteemed panel of jury including Ms. Ally Derks (Director, International Film Festivals, Amsterdam), Mr. Bharat Patel (Ex- Chairman, P & G), Mr. Kailash Surendranath (Ad-filmmaker), Mr. Paul Pauwels (Director, European Documentary Network, Denmark), Mr. Pritish Nandy (veteran journalist, poet and film producer), Ms. Rebecca Tavares (Representative, Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives & Sri Lanka, UN Women) and other renowned individuals from the media, corporate, education and development sectors will select the winners.

Interested youth can register online at http://yiac.yesfoundation.in/ .

Last year YES! i am the CHANGE 2015 emerged as the World’s Largest Social Film Movement with more than 5 lakh individual participants across 2,500 cities and towns pan-India. This year, the Foundation aims to empower 12 lakh youth to become agents of social change.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Rana Kapoor, Chief Mentor, YES FOUNDATION and Managing Director & CEO, YES BANK said, “I strongly believe India’s inclusive development necessitates active and sustained involvement of our youth in nation-building. YES! i am the CHANGE has emerged as a nation-wide movement, accelerating India’s social transformation by channelizing the high octane positive energy of youth, across the length and breadth of the country.’

 “YES! i am the CHANGE is a platform to nurture and harness the ‘youth power’, synergized with the amplifying nature of media, to enable inclusive development. Last year, the movement empowered 5 lakh youth to engage with social causes, creating ripples of transformation across the country. I am confident that this year, youth from all across the nation will participate and drive social change” said Ms. Prerana Langa, CEO, YES FOUNDATION.

Dates of this year’s challenges are: