May 9, 2025
Darlene Ballano and Marco Leonardo Cusi, both BS Film students at MINT, proudly holding their Gold Young Kidlat Student Award.
Makati City, Philippines — It was a tremendous honor to be invited by the 4As Philippines to participate in the first ever #YoungKidlatStudentCompetition. Tasked with creating 60-second videos promoting #GCashJr, we selected the top 10 entries from our Film, Marketing, Entrepreneurship and I.T. students. To our delight, three videos from our talented students advanced to the competition's shortlist of 22 entries from a pool of over 80 teams. When 4As later announced the 10 Finalists, all three of our shortlisted groups secured spots in the final round.
MINT student participants enjoying the CreativeFest 2025 and the 17th Young Kidlat Awards.
The Young Kidlat Awards Ceremony on Friday, May 9, was a night to celebrate as our three student teams competed among the Philippines' top schools in the Finals. Having achieved this milestone was already remarkable, and we were immensely proud of our finalists' accomplishments.
Then came the thrilling announcement: our students Darlene Nikki Ballano and Marco Leandro Cusi, both from our Film program, captured the Gold award for their entry "Kaya Ko Na", along with a Php30,000 cash prize!
Gold!
Congratulations to Darlene and Marco on their outstanding achievement! We also extend our appreciation to our other finalists: Alonzo Domingo (Entrepreneurship) and Von Villegas (Information Technology), Yuan Jabez Devertuda (Music Business) and Moses Webb (Marketing), as well as the seven other teams that submitted videos for the competition. Special thanks to the dedicated faculty who generously allocated class time for these projects: Casey Quitevis, Program Coordinator for Business, Carla Baful, Film faculty, and Shaira Mariel Habon, Marketing faculty.
Darlene Ballano and Marco Leonardo Cusi accepting the Gold Award joined by Kim Viray, Head of Marketing Communications, GCash, Mela Advincula, Young Creatives Competition Co-Lead & Group Creative Director at Leo Burnett Manila, and Russell Molina, Young Creatives Competition Co-Lead & Chief Digital Officer at Seven A.D.
Our heartfelt gratitude to 4As Philippines and GCash for inviting our school to participate in the inaugural Young Kidlat Student Competition!
The 4As is a non-stock, non-profit organization composed of various advertising agencies whose common objective is the promotion of and development of the advertising agency business in conjunction with the advertising industry's goals. 4As is also the official Philippine partner to Cannes Lions, the founders of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the advertising and creative communications industry.