C-SPAN recently announced that students from Edison and Clinton are winners in C-SPAN’s national 2016 StudentCam competition.
Zachary Kesselhaut, an eighth grader at Clinton Township Middle School in Clinton, has won Second Prize and will receive $1,500 for his documentary, “Cyberwarfare: The Next Big Problem.” This video will air on C-SPAN at 6:50 a.m. ET and throughout the day on April 19.
Amit Acharya, Shekhar Iyer, and Aman Karangutkar, eighth graders at John Adams Middle School in Edison, have won Honorable Mention and will receive $250 for their documentary, “The Syrian Refugee Crisis.”
The national competition, now in its 12th year, invites middle school (grades 6-8) and high school students (grades 9-12) to produce a five- to seven-minute documentary on a national policy issue.
This year, students used video cameras to address the theme, “Road to the White House: what’s the issue you most want candidates to discuss during the 2016 presidential campaign?” In response, C-SPAN received a record 2,887 video submissions from almost 6,000 students in 45 states and Washington, D.C.
“With the presidential campaign in the forefront of people’s minds, we wanted to hear from students across the country about the issues that matter to them,” said Craig McAndrew, C-SPAN’s manager of Education Relations. “StudentCam provides these young people, many of whom are too young to vote, with a platform to express their opinions and have their voices heard.”
The most popular topic chosen by students was the economy. Nineteen percent of entries were about issues affecting the economy such as poverty, homelessness, and minimum wage, followed by equality (13 percent), and education (12 percent).
C-SPAN is funded by America’s cable television companies, which support StudentCam. In Clinton, C-SPAN is available locally through Comcast.
“Comcast congratulates Zachary Kesselhaut on his winning documentary in C-SPAN’s 2016 StudentCam competition. In this hotly contested election cycle, it’s great to see future voters voicing their opinions on the most important issues of the day. We are pleased to work together with C-SPAN on this educational initiative and offer our highest congratulations to Zachary on his hard work and national accomplishment,” said Kimberly Smith, Comcast director of Community Affairs.
In Edison, C-SPAN is available locally through Cablevision.
These winners are among 332 students from across the country winning a total of $100,000, including one Grand Prize winner, four First Prize winners, 16 Second Prize winners, 32 Third Prize winners and 97 Honorable Mentions.
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.
