Grand Prize Winner!
“How I Use A Condom” by:
Sonny Ngyuyen and Justin Taylor
Artist Bio: Justin Taylor
Justin Taylor is a graduate from The Evergreen State College where his focuses were on media production and business leadership. Justin has volunteered as the marketing director for Capital City Pride for the past two years and he currently works as an HIV/AIDS prevention coordinator for Pierce County AIDS Foundation where he runs the Mpowerment Olympia project. Mpowerment Olympia seeks to mobilize young gay and bisexual men to create positive social connections for themselves while promoting safer-sex. With his background in media and an outstanding volunteer team, Justin has been able to find exciting new ways of engaging with his local gay community. Justin continues to be amazed by the dedication and talent of the volunteers he works with, specifically his friend and colleague Sonny Nguyen.
Presently, Justin is screening is first short film, “Tying the Knot” at film festivals across the nation. ”Tying the Knot” was a successfully funded Kickstarter project about a closeted politician trying to find redemption through his secret kinky relationship with a male prostitute. As an artist, he’s held firm in the belief that the further you can transport someone outside of what they know, only for them to find the interconnection of our shared human experience; that’s the potential magic of creation that happens every time someone views your art.
“Whatever your goal is in life, it has to withstand the process, and drive you every step of the way to see it become something tangible, something real and effectual” – Justin Taylor
More info can be found at: Mpoweroly.org and JCTaylordesign.com
Artist Bio: Sonny Nguyen
Sonny Nguyen is a queer person of color, a community organizer, and a storyteller. To Sonny, all of these things are the same, are crucial to informing each other. Through spoken word poetry, Sonny weaves the realities of people living on the intersections of hardships into collective stories and messages. Sonny does not claim to speak for any movements, but does their best to echo the voices of those around them. Sonny’s work has been featured at queer events and youth poetry events across the Puget Sound area, but can regularly be seen on the Hook Up, Mpowerment Olympia’s YouTube show at www.youtube.com/mpoweroly. Sonny is very humbled to be part of a winning team with peer and close friend Justin Taylor.
Runner-Up!
“Silent Love” by:
Nestor Venegas, Ari DeLeon, Fanny Ramirez, Patrick Freeman, Victor Hernandez, Cesar Hernandez, Julio Reyes, and Manny Pacheco
“Silent Love” was the product of one of the many HIV prevention programs at Vista Community Clinic which targets youth of color in non-traditional school settings (e.g., juvenile justice system, alcohol and drug rehabilitation facilities, homeless shelters, etc.).
The program, titled CHATncsd, is an initiative funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. The program is unique in that it utilizes peer health educators to disseminate HIV prevention messages in person and via social media.
They are currently using Facebook (facebook.com/CHATncsd), Twitter (twitter.com/CHATncsd), and YouTube(youtube.com/CHATncsd) to accomplish this objective (YouTube houses the rest of the videos that were created through this program).