Global Creators Win Cash, Times Square Spotlight in Kindness Video Awards

Gan Jing World announced the winners May 29, capping a competition that ran from October 2025 through April 2026 and distributed $10,000 in prizes across gold, silver, bronze, and special group categories. Winning entries will be featured on the Times Square billboard in New York City this July, where creators will gather for a prize presentation and photo celebration.

Gold Prize

The gold prize went to BI Phakathi, a South African philanthropist with more than 10 million social media followers who has spent over two decades quietly helping the people most others overlook. Known internationally as "the Good Samaritan," Phakathi keeps his own face out of his videos, deliberately centering the people he helps rather than himself.

His winning submission was not a single video but a compilation—more than 30 entries to the #BeKindBeCool contest. Among them was a encounter with a man named Nico living near train tracks, who asked only for a loaf of bread. The conversation turned to faith and fatherhood, and Phakathi gave him enough money to buy his daughter a Christmas gift. "You're not a stranger. We're all brothers under God," Nico said.

Silver Prize

The silver prize went to a full-length film titled “Beibei's Wish,” an 85-minute feature based on a true story about a young girl confronting what happened to her family under persecution. Produced by NDP, the film sustains themes of truth, compassion, resilience, and kindness across an entire narrative.

Bronze Winners

Eight creators received bronze prizes.

• Samia's Life, an influencer with more than 900,000 social media followers, built a "kindness wheel" filled with affirmations and invited strangers to spin it, rewarding each with a compliment and a treat.
• Josh Nasar, a TV host and comedian with over 10 million followers, approached strangers with intentionally cheesy pickup lines—telling one woman she dropped her "crown" because she's a queen.
• Finny TV wrote an original song called "Kindness Is Cool," turning the contest's theme into what organizers call "a catchy original tune" with a "feel-good melody made to stick."
• ADM School of Kindness, a homeschool mother named Adel, documented daily kindness lessons with her three children, including a kind advent calendar offering one act of kindness—and one piece of chocolate—per day.
• Thuy Linh LE filmed teachers and students at EM Normandie Business School in Paris speaking about kindness in their native languages—French, English, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, and others. One educator described a kind classroom as an "alliance between two people.”
• Choo Choo Shan, a content creator working from Hanoi's famous train street, captured travelers and locals reflecting on kindness, including two tourists who said you have to "keep on being consistent with the kindness."
• Marco in America documented a community cleanup event in Newburgh, New York, following volunteers who transformed a neglected street while connecting with neighbors tackling gun violence and creating opportunities for local youth.
• Armaddilo_, a team of special-needs teachers in Indonesia, filmed candid classroom moments—including lessons taught through traditional wayang puppetry—across a collection of short videos the announcement described as "kindness in its most patient form."

A student film group also earned a Special Group Prize and $1,000 for a collection that included “Dandelion,” a film about a man who gives until nothing is left of himself and reaches a "quiet but vital truth: true kindness must begin at the core, or it cannot survive,” organizers said.

Young Artists Honored Alongside Creators

Running alongside the video competition, a school art contest collected entries from students in grades 1 through 12 on the theme of acts of kindness. Four first-prize winners—from grade divisions 1 to 3, 4 to 6, 7 to 9, and 10 to 12—will have their artwork displayed on the Times Square billboard in July alongside the video winners.