2022 Semifinalists

The video submissions have been judged by the first panel of judges. The following 22 semifinalists have been selected. Congratulations to all!

(Listed in alphabetical order by last name)

High School Division

       Sachiko Convery, Lake Braddock Secondary School (Melvin Yuki sensei)  

       Kyler Coyne, Lake Braddock Secondary School (Melvin Yuki sensei)

       Kiersten Fearrington,  Hayfield Secondary School (Vaughan Kyoko sensei)

       Teddie Frank, Walt Whitman High School (Moorman Yukiyo sensei)         

       Vinh Vo, Lake Braddock Secondary School (Melvin Yuki sensei)

       Miya Weintraub, Washington Japanese Heritage Center (Seat Mina sensei)

College Division I

       Evan Abella, Baylor University (Gaines Yoshiko sensei)

       Salma Battisha, Baylor University (Prefume Yuko sensei)

       Yinzi Chen, Mount Holyoke College (Chang Jinhwa sensei)

       Gabreel Elsawi, Baylor University (Prefume Yuko sensei)

       Andrew Obler, Rice University (Takayama Hiromi sensei)

       Maria Telesforo, Rice University (Takayama Hiromi sensei)

College Division II

       Robert Bierman, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Hoogenboom Tomoko sensei)

       Pierre Elijah Dela Cruz, The George Washington University (Tsujioka Takae sensei)

       Andrew Kowalewski, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Hoogenboom Tomoko sensei)

       Xiuyu Li, College of William & Mary (Kitamura Aiko sensei)          

       Ashley Pizzolato, Murray State University (Shirata Akane sensei) 

       Emily Zhai, Virginia Tech (Kumazawa Yasuko sensei)       

College Division III

       Rhyn Cai, The University of Texas at San Antonio (Fukuda Makiko sensei)

       Nicholas Reese, Georgetown University (Mori Yoshiko sensei)    

       Yixuan Sun, Duke University (Chen Yunchuan sensei)

       Gavin Withers, University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Yokono Yukiko sensei)

The semifinalists' videos are now being judged by the second panel of judges. In addition, the semifinalists have been asked to provide a one-minute video message (in Japanese) to the second panel of judges as to what message they would like to convey at the J.LIVE Talk 2022 Final Round. Three finalists will be selected from each category and invited to participate in the Final Round.