Alexandria and Arlington Students Win Prizes in C-SPAN’s Video Documentary Competition

Alexandria, VA – C-SPAN announced today that students in Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia are winners in C-SPAN’s national 2020 StudentCam competition.

Amal Sharif, Alex Conkey and Ben Janusz, students at TC Williams High School are honorable mention winners and will receive $250 for the documentary, “Which Side of the Story Will You Be On?” about asylum seekers.

Andrew Caslow, a student at Episcopal High School, is an honorable mention winner and will receive $250 for the documentary, “America in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”

Nathan Dent, Brenna Meehan and Ian Schoenfield, students at Yorktown High School in Arlington are honorable mention winners and will receive $250 for the documentary, “The Prison Industrial Complex: The Dark Side of American Criminal Justice.”

Each year since 2006, C-SPAN partners with its local cable television providers in communities nationwide to invite middle and high school students (grades 6-12) to produce short documentaries about a subject of national importance. This year, students addressed the theme, “What’s Your Vision in 2020? Explore the issue you most want presidential candidates to address during the campaign.”

“StudentCam provides a platform for young people to have their voices heard on the issues they are clearly passionate about,” said C-SPAN’s Director of Education Relations Craig McAndrew. “This year’s entries reflect remarkable research and production values and feature a wide range of interviews with elected officials and experts. The life skills students learn from this experience will carry them forward in their academic, personal and professional lives.”

C-SPAN is funded by America’s cable television companies, whom also support StudentCam. These winners are among the 330 students from across the country winning a total of $100,000. Interested in seeing all the videos? They are all available HERE.