#AwamoriTime contest
definition: location, moment, feeling/vibe - the combination of ingredients that transport you to your happy place. Your creative shelter. Your Zen garden. Your mosh pit!
WINNERS
All contest entries were judged across 3 categories: Creativity, Spirit, and Okinawa-ness by a diverse international jury comprised of Japan-experts and complete novices.
1ST PRIZE
2ND PRIZE
3RD prize (5)
御拝ど
(THANK YOU!)
Meet the Judges:
Kenichiro Yamashiro
Deputy Director, Okinawa Prefecture Government, DC Office
Okinawa prefecture is located on the east side of the Asian Continent and on the western end of the arch of the Japanese islands. The prefecture consists of 160 large and small islands (49 inhabited islands) dotted around the vast ocean stretching about 1,000 km from east to west and about 400 km from north to south.
yuko kaifu
President, Japan House LA
Prior to joining Japan House in January 2016, she was Managing Director in the Corporate Communications Department of MUFG Union Bank, owned by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, where she was charged with media relations, internal/external publications of the bank, and with CSR activities for the Japanese and Japanese American communities and for the US-Japan relations.
CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI + Stephen Lyman
Co-Hosts, Japandistilled.com
Stephen and Christopher are routinely mistaken for one another in Kagoshima’s famous Tenmonkan drinking district despite neither of them living in the prefecture. They are passionate about film-making, education, and baseball. Both are professors at Japanese universities.
AMBASSADOr TAMAKI Tsukada
Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Japan in Washington DC
In addition to being the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy, Ambassador Tsukada is also the current Permanent Observer in the Organization of American States (OAS). He is an amateur flautist and a lover of chess, contract bridge and math problem solving.
MEHDI FLISS
Travel blogger, Asianwanderlust.com
Passionate about traveling and photography, Mehdi gave up his engineer career in 2015 to pursue his dream and explore Asia. Since becoming a travel blogger, he regularly shares his tips with thousands of travelers all around the world.
Johnny Caldwell + Taneka Reaves
Beverage Ambassadors, Cocktailbandits.com
These full-time Charleston Beverage Ambassadors met at the College of Charleston, and now, with their booming hospitality business and self-titled Cocktail Bandits blog, promote female empowerment through advocacy for the food and beverage community from a feminine, urban perspective.