Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

SHENZHEN Daily has snatched another prize at the COP15 video contest after its first win a year ago.

The winning video titled “Discover Shenzhen,” which was shot by Shenzhen Daily journalists Liu Xudong and Wang Haolan, won second prize at the COP15 Creative Short Video Competition organized by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

The competition selected one first-prize winner, three second-prize winners, five third-prize winners and 20 honorable mentions, according to an announcement Oct. 14. Entries were collected from May 22 to Sept. 30 this year.

The video is about exploring Shenzhen’s biodiversity, featuring Isaac Cohen, a Colombian biology teacher at an international school in the city.

The story came out after half a year of follow-up interviews with Cohen, and was released May 22 this year, the International Day for Biological Diversity, in dedication to those who work to preserve the world’s biodiversity, according to the reporting team.

“Filming the video was not one day’s work or made on a whim. Instead, it’s the result of the team’s interactions with Cohen, as well as an elaborate plan,” Liu said.

The team chose Cohen as the video’s main subject after he won second prize at the Second Expats Eye Shenzhen Photo Contest in 2020, an event organized by EYESHENZHEN.com and Shenzhen Daily. His photo series “Shenzhen Wildlife” offered close-up views of birds and a lizard he spotted in the city’s various parks.

The shooting team and Cohen took five trips to explore the city’s ecological environment together, which lasted from July 2021 to April 2022.

“With the cooperation of our team members, the video showcases up to 45 local species,” Wang said, adding that they went to great lengths to film footage and record bird sounds.

Last year, Shenzhen Daily’s video titled “SZ man devoted to protecting Yangtze River headwaters” took home the Best Story Award of the COP15 Global Short Video Contest organized by xinhuanet.com, Xinhua News Agency’s online platform.

The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP15, is a meeting that highlights the world’s biodiversity.