University of Oradea student Aris Dejeu, from the Department of Political Science and Communication Studies, has won third place and the Public Choice Award in the international competition 'How Prepared Am I for a Blackout,' organised by the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence, the university said in a statement on Monday.

The annual competition, dedicated to young people from NATO member states, focused this year on public preparedness for a power outage. Participants were invited to create short videos presenting, in an original and relevant manner, how they would prepare for such a scenario.

Aris Dejeu chose to make an informative mini-documentary, filmed while he was in Thessaloniki, Greece, as an Erasmus scholarship recipient. The video was produced in just three days, both in the apartment where he was staying and on the city's streets.

'I chose the format of a short informative and documentary film, while other participants opted for different formats, such as a news report or an artistic short film. I filmed my mini-documentary in just three days, both in the apartment where I was staying, with the blinds drawn, and on the city's streets,' the student said.

In addition to third place, Aris Dejeu's production also received the People's Choice Award, based on a public vote, a distinction he confessed he was particularly pleased with, as he had not expected the video to receive such a positive response.

'I am very excited to have made it onto the podium in the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence competition, but I am even happier that I managed to win the appreciation of the public. For the People's Choice Award, you have to garner a lot of votes, and I did not expect my video to resonate so well with the public,' Aris Dejeu said.

The entries submitted to the competition were assessed based on relevance, originality, creativity, content quality, clarity of the message and the overall impact of the video materials.

The Romanian student believes that the training he received in Communication Studies helped him in developing the project, particularly in writing the script and the text accompanying the images.

Aris Dejeu plans to take part in next year's edition of the competition as well, seeking to climb higher on the podium. 'Hopefully, to first place!' said the aspiring journalist. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Badea; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)

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