Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 1, 2026

StudentCam

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. 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.

Last revised
Jul 1, 2026
Read time
≈ 5 min
Length
1,060 w
Citations
36
Source
Wikipedia ↗
StudentCam
GenreDocumentary filmmaking competition
FrequencyAnnual
LocationsUnited States, Guam
Years active2006-present
ParticipantsMiddle school students (grades 6-8)
High school students (grades 9-12)
PatronC-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. source ↗

The deadline for entries is in January each year5 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

Year Students Film title
2006 Anthony Hernandez and Dustin Gillard Anywhere USA27
2007 Zach Chastain, Bryan Cink and Ryan Kelly Jupiter or Bust: The El Sol Solution12
2008 Scott Mitchell and Nick Poss Leaving Religion at the Door13
2009 Sawyer Bowman Cancer. It's Personal3
2010 Madison Richards, Samantha Noll and Lauren Nixon I've Got the Power14
2011 Carl Colglazier The Great Compromise15
2012 Matthew Shimura The Constitution and the Camps: Due Process and the Japanese-American Internment16
2013 Josh Stokes Unemployment in America17
2014 Emma Larson, Michaela Capps, and Sarah Highducheck Earth First, Fracking Second18
2015 Anna Gilligan, Katie Demos and Michael Lozovoy The Artificial Wage19
2016 Olivia Hurd Up to Our Necks20
2017 Ava and Mia Lazar The Tempest-Tossed21
2018 Adam Koch and Tyler Cooney Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote22
2019 Mason Daugherty and Eli Scott What It Means to Be an American: Citizen Accountability in Government10
2020 Jason Lin, Sara Yen and Amar Karoshi Cmd-delete: Technology’s Damaging Effect on Democracy in 202023
2021 Theodore Poulin Trust Fall24
References

References

  1. Amanda Lynn Porter. "C-SPAN StudentCam 2010". School Video News.com. School Video Systems, Inc. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  2. Patrick Gavin (17 May 2006). "Students tune in through film". USA Today. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  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. "Latham, NY Student Wins Third Prize in C-SPAN's National StudentCam Video Competition". TimeWarnerCable.com. 24 March 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  7. "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. "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.
External links