StudentCam
GenreDocumentary filmmaking competition
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s)United States, Guam
Years active2006-present
ParticipantsMiddle school students (grades 6-8)
High school students (grades 9-12)
Patron(s)C-SPAN
WebsiteStudentCam.org

StudentCam is an annual competition selecting the best video documentaries created by middle and high school students. Each year, StudentCam releases a different prompt about the United States for student filmmakers to respond to in a documentary. It is sponsored by the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network's (C-SPAN) Classroom project.[1] All winning documentaries are available to watch on the StudentCam website. The top 25 winners are interviewed for television broadcasts and have their documentaries aired on C-SPAN.[2]

Overview

The aim of the competition, as stated by C-SPAN, is to provide an opportunity for young people to voice their opinions on current events.[3] Middle and high school students can compete alone or in groups of up to three, entering a video documentary between 5 and 6 minutes in length, which presents more than one side to the selected topic and includes related C-SPAN programming.[1] Each year a new theme related to current affairs is provided, and competitors must use this as the basis for their entry.[4] Subjects have ranged from video game violence to illegal immigration.[2]

Eighth-grade students from McKinley Middle Charter School in Racine, Wisconsin discuss their 2010 grand prize-winning video, I’ve Got the Power.

The deadline for entries is in January each year[5] and the StudentCam winners are announced live on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, usually in March each year.[6] Following the announcement, the top 25 entries are shown on C-SPAN,[7] one documentary each weekday morning, accompanied by a telephone interview with the student filmmakers.[2] All of the winning documentaries are available on the StudentCam website.[2] The winning filmmakers receive cash prizes typically totaling $150,000, with the grand prize-winner receiving $5,000, in addition to being featured on C-SPAN. As of 2014, 150 entries each year are chosen as prize-winners, and 11 teacher awards are given to teachers who incorporate the competition into their classes.[6]

The sponsor of the StudentCam competition is C-SPAN Classroom, a free membership organization providing teachers with C-SPAN materials for classes and research.[6] Promotion of the competition is often supplemented by local cable providers.[8]

History

The StudentCam competition developed from a documentary competition called CampaignCam, run by C-SPAN during the 2004 presidential campaign as a way of including students' views about the election. The StudentCam forerunner won a Beacon Award in 2005, conferred by the cable industry for excellence in communications and public affairs.[9]

In 2006, StudentCam was launched by C-SPAN, adding a requirement that students include relevant C-SPAN programming.[1] The 2018 competition received the most entries to date, when over 5,700 students from 46 states and Washington, D.C. submitted a total of 2,985 submissions.[10] The grand prize winner of the 2009 competition, Sawyer Bowman, a 10th grade student from Davidson, North Carolina was congratulated by President Barack Obama via a specially-recorded video message.[3] A first-prize winner in the 2010 competition, Matthew Shimura, met First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House in April 2010 during a town hall meeting for her "Let's Move!" initiative, to talk about fighting childhood obesity, which was the subject of Matthew's video.[11]

Grand prize winners

YearStudentsFilm title
2006Anthony Hernandez and Dustin GillardAnywhere USA[2][7]
2007Zach Chastain, Bryan Cink and Ryan KellyJupiter or Bust: The El Sol Solution[12]
2008Scott Mitchell and Nick PossLeaving Religion at the Door[13]
2009Sawyer BowmanCancer. It's Personal[3]
2010Madison Richards, Samantha Noll and Lauren NixonI've Got the Power[14]
2011Carl ColglazierThe Great Compromise[15]
2012Matthew ShimuraThe Constitution and the Camps: Due Process and the Japanese-American Internment'[16]
2013Josh StokesUnemployment in America[17]
2014Emma Larson, Michaela Capps, and Sarah HighducheckEarth First, Fracking Second[18]
2015Anna Gilligan, Katie Demos and Michael LozovoyThe Artificial Wage[19]
2016Olivia HurdUp to Our Necks[20]
2017Ava and Mia LazarThe Tempest-Tossed[21]
2018 Adam Koch and Tyler Cooney Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote[22]
2019 Mason Daugherty and Eli Scott What It Means to Be an American: Citizen Accountability in Government[10]
2020 Jason Lin, Sara Yen and Amar Karoshi Cmd-delete: Technology’s Damaging Effect on Democracy in 2020[23]
2021 Theodore Poulin Trust Fall[24]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Amanda Lynn Porter. "C-SPAN StudentCam 2010". School Video News.com. School Video Systems, Inc. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Patrick Gavin (17 May 2006). "Students tune in through film". USA Today. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Michael H. Hodges (24 November 2009). "C-SPAN lets area students have a voice". The Detroit News.
  4. ↑ Anne Pick (13 January 2010). "Behind the Lens: Local teen filmmakers tackle C-SPAN's StudentCam Documentary Contest". The Source Weekly. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  5. ↑ "C-SPAN Student documentary contest open". The State Journal. 17 October 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 "Latham, NY Student Wins Third Prize in C-SPAN's National StudentCam Video Competition". TimeWarnerCable.com. 24 March 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  7. 1 2 "Rep. Walz Congratulates C-SPAN Documentary Contest Winners". US Fed News. 7 May 2007.
  8. ↑ Charles Lussier (10 October 2009). "C-SPAN promoting student documentaries". The Advocate.
  9. ↑ "2005 Beacon Awards: Education: Full Campaign/Single Activity; Cable Network III". Multichannel News. 9 May 2005.
  10. 1 2 "StudentCam Competition - 2019 Winners". Retrieved 2019-04-14.
  11. ↑ Andrew Malcolm (7 April 2010). "Michelle Obama explains how the First Family fights fat; Now, yours can, too". L.A. Times Top of the Ticket. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  12. ↑ "C-SPAN Announces Winners in 2007 "StudentCam," a Political Student Video Competition". eSchoolNews.com. eSchool Media Inc. 8 May 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
  13. ↑ Alexander Carpenter (19 February 2008). "C-SPAN's StudentCam Winner: Leaving Religion at the Door?". Spectrum Magazine. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  14. ↑ Lindsey Fiori (10 March 2010). "McKinley students win national documentary competition". The Journal Times. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
  15. ↑ "C‐SPAN Announces Winners of 2011 StudentCam Video Documentary Competition" (PDF). studentcam.org. C-SPAN. 9 March 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  16. ↑ "C-SPAN StudentCam 2012 Winners". studentcam.org. C-SPAN. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "C-SPAN StudentCam 2013 - Winning Videos". studentcam.org. C-SPAN. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  18. ↑ "C-SPAN StudentCam 2014 - Winners". studentcam.org. C-SPAN. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  19. ↑ "StudentCam 2015 Competition - Winners". studentcam.org. C-SPAN. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  20. ↑ "StudentCam 2016 Competition - Winners". studentcam.org. C-SPAN. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  21. ↑ "StudentCam 2017 Competition - Winners". studentcam.org. C-SPAN. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  22. ↑ "StudentCam Competition - 2018 Winners". Retrieved 2019-04-14.
  23. ↑ "StudentCam Competition - 2020 Winners". Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  24. ↑ "StudentCam Competition - 2021 Winners". Retrieved 2021-08-22.
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