Image from "One Stamp at a Time," documentary.
Image from "One Stamp at a Time," documentary.
C-SPAN will visit Alexandria City High School Wednesday, May 4 to honor Lucy Savarie and Mia Mervis for their 2022 winning entry in C-SPAN's annual student video documentary competition, StudentCam.
Savarie and Mervis, 10th graders, won Honorable Mention and $250 for their video, One Stamp At A Time, a video about food stamps.
This ceremony is among the first C-SPAN has hosted in two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will also be recognizing the 2021 StudentCam winners, Helen Russell, Alison Avelar and Elena Gutierrez for their Honorable Mention win for the video, Dear Mr. President: History, or Progress? A C-SPAN representative will join the community in recognizing them at an assembly of classmates, teachers, family and elected officials.
The competition, now in its 18th year, invited all middle and high school students to
participate by entering a self-produced, short documentary. C-SPAN, in cooperation with its cable television partners, asked students to explore a federal policy or program and address the theme: "How does the federal government impact your life?"
"This year we asked students to reflect on how a federal program or policy is relevant to their lives and communities," said Craig McAndrew, director of C-SPAN Education Relations. "The winners showcased exceptional research and production value as they wove personal stories with historical or contemporary issues. These middle and high school students far exceeded our expectations, and we are elated to share their hard work with the country."
C-SPAN is funded by America’s cable television companies, who also support StudentCam. In Alexandria, C-SPAN is available locally through Comcast.
“We are inspired to hear directly from students about the government programs and policies they feel are most impactful to their generation, including how they affect our local communities,” said Misty Allen, VP of Government and Regulatory Affairs for Comcast’s Beltway Region. “Comcast is proud to continue our partnership with C-SPAN to support StudentCam and we congratulate the winning students from Alexadria on an outstanding achievement.”
This year, more than 3,000 students across the country participated in the contest. C-SPAN received over 1,400 entries, including from 41 states, plus Washington, D.C., Morocco and South Korea. The most popular topics addressed were:
- Environment & Pollution (10 percent)
- Health Care & Mental Health (9 percent)
- COVID-19 & Recovery (7 percent)
- Immigration (5 percent)
- Second Amendment & Firearm Legislation (4 percent)
More than 300 students from across the country are winning a total of $100,000. C-SPAN is awarding one grand prize, four first prizes, 16 second prizes, 32 third prizes and 97 honorable mention prizes. These winning videos will receive cash awards of $5,000, $3,000, $1,500, $750 and $250, respectively. View all 150 winning videos on StudentCam.org.
In Alexandria, C-SPAN programming is provided by Comcast as a commercial-free public service and can be seen on channels 76 and 1128; C-SPAN2 on channels 104 and 1129; and C-SPAN3 on channel 105 and 1130and on the web at C-SPAN.org.
C-SPAN Classroom is the network’s FREE membership service that works with C-SPAN's programs on public affairs, coverage of Congress, non-fiction books and American history to create free resources for teachers, students and the public to use in classrooms, projects or for research. C-SPAN Classroom’s website provides social studies teachers with access to thousands of free resources, including short current events videos, Lesson Plans and Bell Ringers, plus Constitution Clips and On This Day in History events. Engage with C-SPAN Classroom on Twitter and Facebook.
