Tsinghua Professor Lee Miller served as the lead media judge for the United Nations' annual speech competition for students in Beijing's Chaoyang District. Among the event organizers was Global Business Journalism alumni Katherin Thouvenin, a GBJ honors-graduate in 2022, in her role as communications assistant at the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in China.

More than 4,000 middle- and high-school students participated in this year's Youth Dialogue on Sustainable Development, with 30 students from six teams making the finals on November 15. Each team gave a 10-minute presentation on how key initiatives of the UN can be put into practice. Among the presentation topics were protecting the marine ecosystem, clean water and sanitation, minimizing food waste, encouraging sports to boost health and creative ways to improve communities for the elderly. While most students are Chinese, there were international representatives from several nations, including India, Russia and Canada.       

Professor Lee Miller

"The creativity, effort and overall presentations were outstanding, particularly because the students are so young," said Professor Miller, who is also Senior Editor for Bloomberg News. "It's exciting to see firsthand the levels of enthusiasm and talent in our next generation of leaders."

Global Business Journalism alumni Katherin Thouvenin