StudentCam Documentary Competition

Award Amount
Application deadline
Awarded By:

C-SPAN Education Foundation

Number of Awards & Eligibility: 150 students and 50 teaching advisors awards provided annually.
In order to qualify, students must meet the following criteria:
  1. This award is for U.S. students.
  2. Must be a student between grades 6 and 12.
  3. Must be a U.S. citizen.

In order to qualify, students must meet the following criteria:

Description: This contest is available for U.S. students in middle school and high school. In order to enter, applicants must submit a short video documentary about an issue, event, or topic that helped him/her better understand the role of the federal government in their life or community.

Application requirements for the StudentCam Documentary Competition are:

  • Video Documentary
Additional Information: Prize recipients will be determined by judges selected by C-SPAN and the judges' decisions will be final. If a team's entry wins, C-SPAN will divide the prize money equally among the team members. Prize recipients will be asked to provide a social security number and will be responsible for any taxes associated with the prizes. C-SPAN reserves the right not to award all prizes in all categories; and C-SPAN reserves the right to not air a winning video. Prize recipients will be announced on C-SPAN on a date TBA. Winners will be notified by C-SPAN prior to that announcement.

Award Amount: $500 awards annually, non-renewable.  The total dollars awarded for this scholarship is $100,000.

Deadline Information:

Deadline for this scholarship is Wednesday, January 20

Deadline Information:

Deadline for this scholarship is Wednesday, January 20

Application information is available at the C-Span StudentCam website. Each entry should reflect this year's theme. Students must create an original, 5- to 6-minute documentary about the issue he or she feels are important to the selection of America's next president, and should seek to answer the following topic prompt: "What does it mean to be American? Choose a constitutional right, national characteristic, or historic event and explain how it defines the American experience." A small amount of C-SPAN programming must be used to enhance the video documentary. The content of the footage used should relate specifically to the chosen topic. You may use several short clips from multiple C-SPAN programs related to your topic, but the use of C-SPAN footage should not be excessive to the point that it detracts from the original production. A list of downloadable C-SPAN programming is available at the provider website. Entrants must credit all sources used to create the video documentary in the end credits of the documentary or in a separately submitted works-cited list. Individuals or teams of students may create and submit entries. Teams are limited to a maximum of 3 students per entry. Only one entry per person, whether individual or group participation. School staff and faculty may provide guidance and critiques but may not participate in conceiving and producing the video. Students are not required to have a teacher advisor to participate. If a teacher acts as an advisor, their name must be listed in order to be eligible for the StudentCam advisor cash prize. Entries must be submitted online. Students must complete the online submission form and then submit their documentary via upload through the StudentCam website. The finished documentary must be under 2gb in size and in one of the following video formats: .MP4 .AVI .MOV .MPG .MPG2 .MPEG2 .WMV Entries must be successfully uploaded by midnight Pacific Standard Time (PST) on the deadline date.
About C-SPAN Education Foundation:
Contact Information: Jena Lenz, Education Relations
Address: 400 North Capitol St. NW Washington, District of Columbia 20001

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