Four students in Punjab, India are among the leaders in the final round of Class Act Canada, a first-of-its-kind, Internet-based international contest that will award 10 deserving students from around the globe with an all-expenses paid education in British Columbia.
Of the final 20 vying for the spots provided by Sprott-Shaw Community College, four of the finalists live in Punjab, India.
They are Charanjit Singh from Hoshiapur, Vishal Chawla from Chandigarh, Sharanjit Singh Taggar from Hoshiapur and Ramanrishi Singh Walia from Patiala.
More than 3,015,400 votes from all over the world determined the top 20 candidates. Canada had four finalists followed by The Philippines and India.
The other  finalists are from Republic of Korea, Japan, Ukraine, Vietnam, Peru and China.
First round entries came from places as diverse as the Federated States of Micronesia, to Ethiopia and Malaysia. The great success of this diverse campaign is partially due to the social media campaign on websites such as Facebook and Twitter, designed and executed by New Market Multimedia.
“You can see the power of education and the hope it brings in the videos on classactcanada.com.” said Dean Duperron, the president of Sprott-Shaw, who launched the philanthropic campaign last August.
“It has been a tremendous success to showcase beautiful British Columbia, has the best place to live and learn in the world,” said Duperron.
Duperron, 53, whose personal rags-to-riches tale from the streets of Vancouver to become the President and CEO of the 106-year-old Sprott-Shaw College, is behind the contest.
Duperron decided earlier this year to offer $1 million in free education for ten individuals looking to improve their lot in life, “because education gave me a chance and now I want to give something back,”
After Class Act Canada was launched in the summer, over 50,000 people in 63 countries cast about half a million votes to select the top 100 candidates in the Round One of Class Act Canada.
After a second round of global online voting, the 100 have been whittled down to 20.
The 20 finalists represent a diverse and dynamic group of individuals who entered from across the globe for a chance at a free post secondary education.
Hopefuls simply had to enter a 60 to 90 second video via the Internet outlining “what I would do with a degree/diploma from Sprott-Shaw College”.
From here on out, the final decision lies with the judges, who will base their decisions on the applications and votes.
Judges for Class Act Canada include Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Darcy Rezac, Craig Kielburger, co-founder of Free The Children, Province editor-in-chief Wayne Moriarty, former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford and Harbinder Singh, the president of the Vancouver-based New Market Multimedia Inc.
The prize will include a degree/diploma course at Sprott-Shaw College (B.C. campuses only), books and tuition, airfare to and from hometown, food and lodging, and transportation to and from the selected Sprott-Shaw College.
Sprott-Shaw is a 22-campus global post secondary institution with campuses in Canada, Jordan, India, China and Vietnam. The institution employs 250 people globally and educates over 4,500 students in 140 programs annually. It is the oldest college in B.C.

You can view the top 20 finalists at www.ClassActCanada.com

Canada (4)
Shiyun Tang  
Shannon Yun  
Graham Anderson
Cluny Macpherson
 
Philippines (5)
Pasion Maribet
Kim Madrilejo
Mark Jefferson Grospe
Elaine Tabucol
Roldan Guerrero

India (4)
Charanjit Singh
Vishal Chawla
Sharanjit Singh Taggar
Ramanrishi Singh Walia

Republic of Korea (2)
Il Hwan Song
Yuna Shin

Japan (1)
Ikue Mizuno

Ukraine (1)
Sofiia Sagir

Viet Nam (1)
Thi Hoang Anh Nguyen

Peru (1)
Edwin Levita Llancay

China (1)
Xin Yuan