Samsung Paralympic Vloggers competition launched ahead of Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and Worldwide Paralympic Partner Samsung are launching today (4 May) an online competition to select four vloggers to share unique stories of breaking barriers at Tokyo 2020.

The competition is open to all athletes heading to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, as well as National Paralympic Committee (NPC) Team Officials.

Between now and 24 May, entrants are invited to create and post a video entry up to 60-seconds long (and a maximum of 50mb) through https://www.paralympic.org/tokyo-2020/samsung-vloggers or their own social media channels, by tagging Paralympics and using the hashtag #Tokyo2020. Submissions can either be in English or their native language, and must show something unique and engaging about their life and provide an idea of how they would create vlog content during Games-time.

Vloggers are encouraged to embody Samsung’s key campaign message of Together For One World as they prepare to show the world the astonishing feats and performances that the Paralympic Games delivers.

A panel of experts from Samsung and the IPC will then analyse entries to determine the four successful vloggers who will be selected to be part of the campaign.

In total, the Tokyo 2020 Samsung Paralympic Vloggers team will involve 18 members. As well as the four vloggers selected from the competition, 11 athletes chosen by Samsung and the IPC, and three pre-selected Paralympic Games supporters will produce content for their own channels.

Originally started at London 2012, Samsung Paralympic Vloggers has captured the Games experiences of several world-leading athlete over the last four editions of the Paralympics. This has included US wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden, Brazilian swimming legend Daniel Dias and 2016 Refugee Team athlete Ibrahim al Hussein.

Craig Spence, the IPC’s Chief Brand and Communications Officer, said: "Tokyo 2020 will mark the fifth edition of the Samsung Paralympic Vloggers project where athletes provide exclusive behind the scenes video blogs from the Paralympic Games.

"This unique initiative provides a fantastic insight into the daily lives and experiences of Paralympians attending one of the world’s biggest sport events. We are greatly excited to see how creative athletes will be in producing content for this competition and during the Games themselves. The content for Tokyo 2020 in particular will be unique as athletes adapt to taking part in a first Paralympic Games during a pandemic."

The Tokyo 2020 Samsung Paralympic Vloggers is an extension of a project which began at London 2012 and continued through Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018.

The 2018 instalment of the Samsung Paralympic Vloggers initiative was the biggest yet, with almost five million views across social media, as well as coverage from broadcasters and within stadiums. And the series is only set to get bigger in Tokyo.

All content created in Tokyo will be uploaded to the IPC’s YouTube Channel, the IPC website and the respective vloggers’ social media accounts throughout the Paralympic Games, between 24 August and 5 September 2021.

Greg Polychronidis, who was a part of the first Samsung Paralympic Vloggers campaign at London 2012, recalls: "It (was) great, because I had the opportunity to share the magical world of the Paralympic Games with all of our followers. Magnificent scenes from the venues as well as incomparable moments from the Paralympic Village could be shared around the world because of the Samsung Paralympic Vloggers campaign, and I am really proud because I've been a part of it!"

To submit your entries, please visit: https://woobox.com/d2hrtc or enter on social media by tagging in Paralympics and using the hashtag #Tokyo2020. The deadline for athletes to submit their entries is 24 May.

Full details on how to enter the competition are available online: https://www.paralympic.org/tokyo-2020/samsung-vloggers

For more information, please contact IPC Digital Activations Co-ordinator Ryan Hills at ryan.hills@paralympic.org

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Notes to the Editor

For further information, please contact Philip Dorward, IPC Head of Communications on e-mail: philip.dorward@paralympic.org. Alternatively, please visit www.paralympic.org.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. It co-ordinates the organisation of the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, and serves as the International Federation for 10 sports, for which it supervises and co-ordinates the World Championships and other competitions. The IPC’s vision is to enable Para athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world.

To watch videos and subscribe to ParalympicSport.TV, please go to www.youtube.com/ParalympicSportTV.

Also, you may follow the Paralympic Movement on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Paralympics, Twitter at www.twitter.com/Paralympics or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/Paralympics.

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