C-SPAN announced today that students in Miami and Miami Lakes are winners in C-SPAN’s national 2019 StudentCam competition.
Dahlia Harris, Neena Deosaran and Ceci Richardson, students at South Miami Middle School in Miami, have won third prize and will receive $750 for their documentary about gun violence, “What is Your Limit.”
Bianca Vucetich, Javier Pujols and Aimet Ruiz, students at iPrep Academy in Miami, have won honorable mention and will receive $250 for their documentary, “The Immigrant Dream.”
Daniel Gonzalez III, Michelle Mairena and Khimmoy Hudson, students at Miami Lakes Educational Center in Miami Lakes, have won honorable mention and will receive $250 for their documentary, “Listen: America is Speaking.”
Each year since 2006, C-SPAN partners with its local cable television providers like Comcast in communities nationwide to invite middle and high school students to produce short documentaries about a subject of national importance. This year students addressed the theme”What does it mean to be American? Choose a constitutional right, national characteristic, or historic event and explain how it defines the American experience.”
In response, a record 6,318 students (a 10 percent increase over 2018) from 48 states and Washington, D.C., participated. The most popular topics among the 2,923 submissions included First Amendment rights (17 percent), equality/discrimination (13 percent) and immigration (9 percent).
“Over the last 15 years, we’ve had the privilege of hearing viewpoints on a wide variety of issues directly from young filmmakers across the country,” said C-SPAN’s Manager of Education Relations Craig McAndrew. “This year, students clearly stepped up their approach to deliver thoughtful and diverse responses to our competition theme, which reflect enormous time and effort put into the research and construction of their documentaries.”
C-SPAN is funded by America’s cable television companies, which also support StudentCam. In Miami and Miami Lakes, C-SPAN is available locally through Comcast.
“As a strong supporter of civic education, Comcast proudly partners with C-SPAN for its annual documentary competition, StudentCam. Each year, we are impressed and inspired by Miami students’ insight and creativity tackling national issues through their short videos,” said Marta Casas-Celaya, Director of External Affairs and Community Impact for Comcast in Miami. “We at Comcast are proud to join C-SPAN in congratulating the winning students at iPrep Academy, Miami Lakes Educational Center and South Miami Middle School.”
These winners are among the 340 students 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. This year C-SPAN marks its 15th year of the competition and awards its 1 millionth dollar in StudentCam prize money.
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.
