Passion.

Hazel Reyes has it: For a community that she sees losing many of the institutions that give Hawai'i its sense of self.

Cynthia Vance and Shyla Pakele have it: For telling stories in moving pictures, in music, in narrative and dialogue — on video now, but in movies someday.

Kelly Callistro has it: For helping her Moanalua High School students learn not just media technology but teamwork, professional conduct, how to work within the community.

And beyond the passion, all four — and dozens of others — were willing to put in hours of their own time organizing and creating the video entries for the first Kalo Awards, a statewide high school video competition in which teams from media classes create television spots on given subject matter.

This year, it was "Aloha, Moms and Pops." And that's where Reyes, the volunteer director of the Kalo Awards, came in.

One night in February of last year, she was grumbling to her partners in another film project about seemingly unrelated events that had her feeling lost, angry and down: Vandals had attacked a friend's building and covered it with graffiti. And she'd just heard that a cluster of her favorite old-time family businesses were closing: Ebisu Catering, Kapiolani Bowl, Garden House, Victoria Inn and the Chinese Bakery on Maunakea Street, Shung Chong Yuein Ltd.

But from this kvetching came inspiration: Filmmaker Nathan Kurosawa suggested having local high schools compete to produce free TV ads for small neighborhood stores, the kind of thing that such businesses could never afford.

That other film project never came off. But the Kalo Awards, supported by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Pizza Hut, Big Brothers Big Sisters, high school media teachers, award-winning TV producer Don Mapes and KHON TV, took on "a life of its own," Reyes said.

Reyes wooed, cajoled and arm-twisted school media teachers, advisers and principals, and 32 participated, with 12 being honored tonight as finalists at a private reception at Washington Place. The top three schools will receive $1,000 apiece for media projects and the overall winner gets an additional $1,000.

"Our keiki don't have any idea of what is being lost. We wanted to connect them back to one of the best things about Hawai'i and teach them to use their skills to bring honor and, hopefully, some extra business, to these stores that are the soul of commerce in these islands. The interaction between kupuna and keiki was beautiful; the respect and affection that sprung up between the two groups made all our efforts worthwhile," Reyes said.

Among the students who most impressed Reyes was Cynthia Vance, 17, a senior in her second year of media classes at Moanalua High School and, Vance hopes, a future student at the New York Film Academy in Paris.

Vance, of Salt Lake, worked with a team of three others — senior Aja Allen and juniors Ki'inani Kala'au and Justine Aguas — to produce "Silva Store," about a hole-in-the-wall grocery in 'Ewa Beach. But this was only one of Vance's projects. She's been watching videos since she was 3, lugging around a video camera since age 12, producing her own short works at home (on Windows software) and for the past two years at school (with Macintosh technology).

"I just love everything about (making videos). ... Whatever idea you have in your head, to be able to re-create it and actually show it to everyone ... and working with many different kinds of people, from all kinds of backgrounds. I love that," said Vance, who says that her inspiration comes not from YouTube or TV reality shows but classic older films, like those of Alfred Hitchcock. "They really focused on the cinematic element. ... It's not just about making money but it's about caring for the movie, what it looks like, the scene and the mood."

Vance, who grew up in Japan, the daughter of an American military man and a Japanese national, moved to Hawai'i seven years ago with her now single mom. She had to face some challenges: For a video she did last year on the girls' soccer team, she had to take the bus to Waipi'o with all her camera gear because she doesn't have a car. She is grateful for Reyes' encouragement and determined that she'll pursue her dream even if it's not easy.

Callistro, Vance's media teacher, tries to set a high bar for her students. When the Kalo Awards team came to her with the suggestion of Silva Store, she didn't agree right away. She said they would have to go on their own to get permission from the owners and gather information about the store, then they would have to convince her that there was a story there.

"I didn't really want to spend my fall break driving them all the way out to 'Ewa Beach ... but they were so adamant and when (Vance) showed me some shots, I had to say 'yes,' " recalled Callistro, a social-studies teacher who has learned video "on the fly," as many teachers of new media have had to do.

The students worked to their strengths: Cynthia has the eye for filming, composition, angles, lighting. Ki'inani is a good director. Justine was the team player, working with everyone to do whatever needed to be done. And Aja did the voice-over.

The Kalo teams went all-out, making ads that range from Claymation-type work to original rap songs to period pieces that required — in the case of Saint Louis School's nostalgic ad for St. Louis Drive In, for example — working on Thanksgiving Day and borrowing classic cars to take the viewer back in time. (On the Big Island, Puna Charter School students did a similar thing in which the whole community got involved, since they closed down a street for a while.)

Shyla Pakele, a 17-year-old senior at Hakipu'u Learning Center charter school on the Windward Community College campus, single-handedly produced a tribute to her hometown grocery, Waikane Store, famed for its chicken, sushi and the aloha of the Tsutsui family. She's been coming there since childhood, she said, and didn't even know the family name until she made the video: "We just call them 'Uncle' and 'Auntie.' " Video, she said, gives her an opportunity to to tell such people's stories. "Your options are endless; the more you learn, you can do anything you want," she said.

It's the kind of comment that makes Reyes glow: "We want the kids to know there are no limits; they can do anything. But we also want them to remember where they came from."