SINGAPORE—OCT. 29, 2019 – Viacom’s (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB) MTV today announced its honorees for the “2019 MTV EMA Generation Change Award” that elevates and empowers fearless, original activists and youth leaders who are changing the world through music, storytelling and innovation.
Five changemakers from across the globe were selected for the award, which will be presented by iconic MTV personality Sway Calloway during the “2019 MTV EMAs” live red carpet pre-show in Seville, Spain on November 3rd.
The “2019 MTV EMAs” will broadcast live on MTV Asia on Monday, 4 November 2019, starting with the red carpet premiere at 2.00 AM (WIB), 3.00 AM (SG/MY/PH), and 4.00 AM (MY – Astro). This is followed by the main show at 3.00 AM (WIB), 4.00 AM (SG/MY/PH), and 5.00 AM (MY – Astro).
Catch the primetime encore telecast on the same day, 4 November, with the red carpet at 7.00 PM (WIB) and 8.00 PM (SG/My/PH), and the main show at 7.50 PM (WIB) and 8.50 PM (SG/MY/PH).
MTV International will make a monetary donation to each honorees’ organization and amplify their transformational work and unique stories across the brand’s social and digital platforms in nearly 180 countries.
The “2019 MTV EMA Generation Change Award” winners include:
Alfredo “Danger” Martinez – 33 years old, Mexico – Danger is a rap activist who uses hip hop to empower youth in marginalized communities and inspire social transformation in Mexico. He spearheads workshops, school programs and events to equip young people with the ability to tell their stories and spread good through rap.
Shiden Tekle – 20 year old, UK – Shiden and his friends recreated famous movie and TV posters with all black actors and posted them around South London and social media. Created under the organization Legally Black UK, these striking visual displays gained global media attention and shed light on the lack of black British characters in entertainment and the issues of racial misrepresentation in media.
Lisa Ranran Hu – 20 years old, China – Lisa wrote, directed and produced an original feature film Escape that powerfully portrayed a young woman’s experiences of being transgender in China, which incited public discussion about the country’s stance on LGBTQIA+ issues.
Kelvin Doe – 22 years old, Sierra Leone – A self-taught engineer, entrepreneur and founder of the Kelvin Doe Foundation, Kelvin empowers young people in Africa to design innovative solutions to tackle the most critical problems in under-developed communities. At age 11, he used trash in his hometown for spare parts to build batteries, generators and transmitters to power his local community and built his own radio station, which he used to broadcast news and play music under the nickname, DJ Focus.
Jamie Margolin – 17 years old, USA – A powerful force of the youth climate movement, Jamie co-launched an international climate justice organization Zero Hour that led the 2018 “Youth Climate Marches” in Washington, DC and 25 cities around the world. Since then, Jamie and Zero Hour have organized revolutionary educational campaigns, youth voting initiatives, strikes, summits and climate action speaking tours.
The “2019 MTV EMA Generation Change” campaign brings together the power of the MTV brand, Viacom’s resources and generational reach to engage with changemakers and MTV’s audiences on the issues that matter most to them.
To inspire and inform this campaign, Viacom conducted a global research study that found that 61% of young people believe it is their generation’s responsibility to fix the problems they’ve inherited. Whether in their local community or at an international level, lack of support and resources was also the no. 1 issue that young people said limits their power to create change. The data also reiterated the expectation and opportunity for corporations and brands to join young people in their quests for change.
Learn more about the “MTV EMA Generation Change Award” winners in the bios included below, and in this video.
The “2019 MTV EMAs” will air in nearly 180 countries across the globe.
2019 “MTV EMA GENERATION CHANGE AWARD” WINNER BIOGRAPHIES
Alfredo “Danger” Martinez – 33 years old, Mexico
Danger is a Mexican hip-hop artist and “raptivist” – addressing multiple social issues and social empowerment through music. With over 10 million views on YouTube, he is one of the youngest artists to be included in Tijuana’s “Walk of Fame.” Danger is a “Youth Award” honoree, named by The Department of Youth for his transformational work across Mexico dedicated to helping children and teens in jails, violent neighborhoods, foster homes and orphanages. Currently, Danger is launching a pilot program to teach rap across middle schools in Mexico, working closely with the national cultural program “Alas y Raices.” The pilot aims to use rap as a teaching tool and empower young people with music while encouraging them to leverage their interest in hip hop to impact change. Danger is the ambassador of Generation Hip Hop México and the president of “Sujetos del Verco,” a production company that organizes international festivals that teach rap, slam poetry, spoken word, huapango, jaraners and other performance styles to young people as a storytelling medium. He’s also currently promoting his third studio album, MOEBIUS which can be streamed on all music platforms.
Shiden Tekle – 20 year old, UK
Shiden was born and raised in Brixton, South London. At a young age, he recognized the need for young people to feel represented in media and hear new authentic stories. From being stopped and searched to being racially profiled as a child, he wanted to take action for racial justice in the UK. Shiden and his three friends created Legally Black UK, an organization that first gained media attention for taking over bus ads all over South London with custom images that recreated iconic TV and movie posters, like Doctor Who and Harry Potter, by replacing white actors with black people. Legally Black aims to increase awareness surrounding the lack of black representation in British media and create dialogues around the often inaccurate and harmful depictions that marginalize people of the black community.
Lisa Ranran Hu – 20 years old, China
Lisa Ranran Hu is a Chinese student filmmaker currently studying at UCLA. Her most recent 75-minute feature film, Escape, explores the journey and experiences of a young transgender teenager living in China. Escape created a huge stir online in China and made headlines in the international press. As the writer, director, and producer of Escape, Hu was named one of Teen Vogue’s “21 Under 21,” as nominated by Emma Watson, TIME Magazine’s “30 Most Influential Teens” and Forbes Asia’s “30 Under 30.”
Kelvin Doe – 22 years old, Sierra Leone
Kelvin Bokai Doe (also known as DJ focus) is the founder and president of the Kelvin Doe Foundation, a non-profit organization that is committed to empowering young people in Africa to design innovative solutions to tackle some of the most critical issues in their communities. Through various programs, Kelvin engages with educators, the private sector, government leaders, leading global visionaries and NGOs to mobilize and provide platforms, resources, makerspaces, mentorship and tools to advance the impacts of experimental and hands-on learning programs in Africa. His recent activity includes crowdfunding to provide makerspaces across Freetown. Kelvin has won several international innovation awards including the Presidential Gold Medal and is also the youngest person to participate in the “Visiting Practitioner’s Program” at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Kelvin is a frequent speaker at sci/tech/art and youth empowerment functions and serves on the Honorary and Advisory Board of Emergency USA, an organization with a mission to provide free medical and surgical care to victims of war and poverty. He lives and studies in Toronto, Canada, and hopes to run for president of Sierra Leone in the future to help improve the lives of the people in his country.
Jamie Margolin – 17 years old, USA
Jamie is a Colombian-American community organizer, activist, author, public speaker and high school student. She is a founder and co-executive director of international youth climate justice movement Zero Hour that led the official “Youth Climate Marches” in Washington, DC and 25+ cities around the world during the summer of 2018. These actions laid the groundwork for and helped inspire the current youth climate strike movement. Jamie has organized countless actions for change and protests like the “2019 Youth Climate Summit” in Miami, Florida and “Youth Climate Lobby Days” on U.S. Capitol Hill in 2018 and 2019. In addition to being a full-time high school student, Jamie is the author of many thought provoking Op-Eds for various publications such as The New York Times and has been on speaking tours in America and abroad for climate justice. Jamie is also a climate justice organizer in her local Seattle community and is a plaintiff on Our Children’s Trust’s Youth v. Gov. Washington State lawsuit, suing the state of Washington for denying her generation’s constitutional rights to a livable environment by worsening the climate crisis. Her debut book, “Youth To Power: Your Voice and How To Use It,” hits bookstores worldwide in 2020. Jamie is one of Teen Vogue’s “21 Under 21” girls changing the world in 2018, Fuse TV’s Latina Trailblazer of 2018, one of The Today Show’s “18 Under 18 Groundbreakers” of 2019, and one of the BBC’s “100 Most Influential Women of 2019.”
