The Masters of Thoracic Surgery video contest is an annual event held by AME Publishing Company, sponsored by Medtronic, Inc., with an aim to share and demonstrate the surgical skills in thoracic surgery. The contest here comes to a conclusion with the final scoring from a panel of judges.
This year, the contest is held on an international background. There were 80 videos in total for evaluation. The videos were divided into two groups: Uniportal VATS Lobectomy & VATS Segmentectomy. Now there are six winners in each group. We will publish all the prized videos in Journal of Thoracic Disease (JTD: https://jtd.amegroups. com) later. Here are the winners and the judges.
Group I: Uniportal VATS Lobectomy
Award of Excellence:
Joel Dunning (James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK)
Award of Best Demonstration:
Kaihua Tian (The Affiliated hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China)
Wenzhao Zhong (Guangdong General Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China)
Award of Great Potential:
Gang Shen (The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China)
Mathew Thomas (Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, USA)
Semih Halezeroğlu (Acıbadem University, Istanbul, Turkey)
Group II: VATS Segmentectomy
Award of Excellence:
Yunfeng Yuan (Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University, Shanghai, China)
Award of Best Demonstration:
Qianli Ma (China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China)
Shin-ichi Yamashita (Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan）
Award of Great Potential:
Hirohisa Kato (Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan）
Andreas Hiebinger (Munich, Germany）
Akira Hamada (Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan)
A panel of Judges
Luca Bertolaccini, MD, PhD, FCCP
Thoracic Surgery Unit, Sacro Cuore - Don Calabria Research Hospital, Cancer Care Center, Negrar Verona, Italy
Jose Luis J. Danguilan, MD
Lung Center of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines
Alfonso Fiorelli, MD, PhD
Department of Cardio-Thoracic Disease, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy
Diego Gonzalez-Rivas, MD, FECTS
Department of Thoracic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery Unit (UCTMI), Coruña University Hospital, Coruña, Spain 
Jang Ming Lee, MD, PhD
Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
Toshiaki Morikawa
The Jikei University School of Medicine Department of Surgery, Tokyo, Japan)
Calvin Sze Hang Ng, BSc(Hons), MBBS(Hons), MD(Res)(Lond), FRCSEd(CTh), FCSHK, FHKAM(Surg), FCCP
Department of Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong
Nuria M. Novoa Valentín, PhD
Thoracic Surgery Service, University Hospital of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
Hiroyuki Oizumi, MD, PhD
Department of Cardiovascular, Thoracic and Pediatric Surgery (Second Department of Surgery), Yamagata University Faculty of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan)
Kostas Papagiannopoulos, MD, MMED THORAX, (CTH)
Department of Thoracic Surgery, St. James’s University Hospital, Leeds, United Kingdom
Takashi Suda
Department of Surgery, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Aichi, Japan)
Akif Turna MD, PhD, FETCS
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Cerrahpasa Medical School, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
Paul van Schil, MD
Department of Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Antwerp, Belgium)
Kazuhiro Yasufuku, MD, PhD
Division of Thoracic Surgery, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, Ontario, Canada
Marcin Zielinski, MD, PhD
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Pulmonary Hospital, Zakopane, Poland)
Chingfeng Wu (Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, Taiwan)(Co-judge with Diego Gonzalez-Rivas)
Thank you very much for participating in this contest. We believe the contest by embracing the thoracic surgeons from all over the world will be a continued platform for surgeons to learn from each other and improve their skills. We look forward to meeting you in next contest.