Documentary Production and Distribution News

C-SPAN Announces Winners of 2013 StudentCam Documentary Competition

By StudentFilmmakers.com
posted Apr 5, 2013, 16:05

Josh Stokes, a senior at Daniel Hand High School in Madison, CT, will receive $5,000 as Grand Prize winner in C-SPAN’s national 2013 StudentCam competition for his video entitled, “Unemployment in America.”

Every year since 2006, C-SPAN has invited middle school students (grades 6-8) and high school students (grades 9-12) to produce a five- to eight- minute documentary on a national issue. This year, students used cameras to answer the question, “What’s the most important issue the president should consider in 2013?”

More than 3,500 students in 44 states and Washington, DC sent a total of 1,893 entries to C-SPAN this year— nearly 60 percent more than the number of entries received in 2012. Students worked in teams or as individuals to address a wide range of public policy issues, from bullying to troop withdrawal to the national debt.

The most popular topic in 2013 was the economy. Nineteen percent of entries were about economic issues such as unemployment, poverty and the national debt, followed by education (10 percent) and the environment (8 percent).

“StudentCam proves yearly that students are paying attention to the pressing issues of the day- and right now, that’s the economy,” said Joanne Wheeler, C-SPAN Vice President of Education Relations.

“As the president begins his second term, students took advantage of a great opportunity to send him a public message about what is most important to them, and the winning videos are compelling.”

“Because education and youth development are important focus areas for Comcast’s community investment initiatives, we are excited to recognize Josh Stokes on his winning documentary in this year’s annual C-SPAN StudentCam competition,” said Kristen Roberts, Regional Vice President of Public Relations and Community Investment. “We are proud to partner with C-SPAN each year on this competition which allows students to think creatively about issues that affect their community and nation.”

Alan Shimp from Midland, PA, won First Prize in the high school category for his documentary entitled, “Free Candy,” and the team of Parin Bhaduri, Austin Hoag, and Nalin Varma, from Knoxville, TN, received First Prize in the middle school category for their video entitled, “Public Transportation in the Nation.” Each First Prize award is valued at $3,000.

In addition to the Grand Prize and First Prize winners, C-SPAN is awarding eight 2nd prizes, 16 3rd prizes and 48 honorable mentions. Each winning video is available at www.c-span.org/studentcam and may be used in a broadcast with attribution to C-SPAN.

The annual competition is sponsored by the C-SPAN Education Foundation. Videos were evaluated by a panel of educators and C-SPAN representatives based on the thoughtful examination of the competition’s theme, quality of expression, inclusion of varying sides of the documentary’s topic, and effective incorporation of C-SPAN programming.

Resources:

http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/

http://www.c-span.org/

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