Group photo of guests and award winners at the 2020 "My China Story" International Short Video Competition awards ceremony on Friday in Yantai, East China’s Shandong Province Photo by Guo Shasha/China Pictorial

The awards ceremony of the 2020 "My China Story" International Short Video Competition was held Friday in Yantai, East China's Shandong Province, with one Jury Prize and 32 Excellence Awards handed out.

The Beijing-based Y China outshone 42 institutions and individuals to win the jury prize and 30,000 yuan ($4,580) to further their short video creativity. Its short video — "Broadway Show or Annual Meeting? The Incredible Performances in China's Biggest Factory" — depicted a Chinese factory's annual party from a foreigner's perspective.

"In modern society, new media is a common language," said the video creator Lila. "Through short videos, people from different countries can understand and get to know the external world and eliminate stereotypes. Through this competition, we can see that there are a large number of We Media doing cross-cultural communication-related content, which is delightful."

"It is significant to gather the power of global short video creators to spread the stories that are most relevant for overseas audiences, most representative of Chinese culture and most able to show the common ground between China and the world," said Gao Anming, vice president and editor-in-chief of China International Publishing Group at the awards ceremony.

William Neil Brown, the author of "Off the Wall - How We Fell for China," said: "It is important that we really work, not just government promotion, but that a lot of people get involved in telling Chinese stories to help foreigners see what the truth is here."

The ceremony's attendees agreed that there is more to be done to tell the true and impressive Chinese stories to the outside world in the form of short videos. The participation of foreign creators can play a diversified role as a "third eye" to show off Chinese people and China to the world.

The organizing committee received more than 400,000 submissions from over 100 countries and regions. Among these, over 2,000 complied with the themes of the competition, which were divided into seven categories: Poverty Alleviation, Fighting COVID-19 with Global Cooperation, Discovering China from Outside its Borders, Experiencing China and its Development, My Favorite Chinese City, Cities, Stories of Me and the Chinese People, and Foreigners in China. The shortlisted videos came from 42 institutions and individuals from 21 countries.

The short video "Is China Safe?" produced by the Global Times also won the Excellence Award. It interviewed a dozen foreigners on the streets of Shanghai and asked them if they felt safe in China. The interviewees from more than 10 countries agreed that China is one of the safest countries in the world.