Eastern Middle School

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2024

C-SPAN Celebrates 20th Anniversary of StudentCam

Awards Over $5,000 in Cash Prizes to Eastern Middle School

And Students Who Produced Winning Documentaries

2024 winners announced: Twenty-four Eastern Middle School students were awarded prizes for tackling topics that are important to them, including D.C. representation in Congress, space exploration, women’s rights, fast fashion, rehabilitation in U.S. prison systems, the Human Genome project, the impact of COVID-19 on early education, food additives, cybersecurity, and data privacy.

WASHINGTON (March 13, 2024) — C-SPAN announces the winners of the 2024 StudentCam documentary competition, in which over 3,200 students from around the country participated. In honor of the 20th year of the competition, C-SPAN is gifting educators an additional $50,000 for a total of

$150,000 in student and teacher cash prizes and awards. This year Eastern Middle School will be awarded for 9 documentaries comprised of 24 students.

Through this project-based learning experience, students were asked this year to address the theme:

“Looking Forward while Considering the Past” with these two prompts:

1. In the next 20 years, what is the most important change that you would like to see in America?

-OR-

1. Over the past 20 years, what has been the most important change in America?

The two 2024 top prize winners from Eastern Middle School are Dylan Zuriff and Ilana Handwerker’s documentary Two Sides of the Street: The Fight for DC Representation in Congress, and Leo Fan, Nikhil Rao and Jasper Jones’ documentary War in Orbit: The Fight for the Final Frontier. They will receive a combined total of $3,000 for their two documentaries. Dylan and Ilana’s documentary Two Sides of the Street documentary will air on C-SPAN on April 9, 2024, throughout the day. Leo, Nikhil, and Jasper’s documentary will air on C-SPAN on April 5, 2024, throughout the day. 

Winning documentaries from Eastern Middle School receiving Honorable Mention awards include:

• America on American Women by Isabella Avena, Veronica Cadenas Villafuerte, & Aryam Araya

• The Dangerous Effects of Fast Fashion by Diana Ince & Oliver Hannum

• Order in the Court: Introducing Rehabilitation in U.S. Prison by Lexi DeLeon, Sofia Guidorizzi, & Anna Su

• The Human Genome Project: What's Next? by Ryan Song, Grayson Luo, & Samanyu Salgia

• What Covid Taught Gen. Alpha - The Coronavirus Pandemic and its Effects on Early Education by Eton Smith & Isabel Woldeab

• Subtract the Additives by Max Waner, Vanessa Galdamez, & Avery Lin

• Unveiling the Threat: Cyber Security and Data Privacy Explained by Stephen Kim, Marc Lucea, & Gunner Drews

Congratulations, Eastern Middle School!

In cooperation with its cable television partners, C-SPAN invited all middle and high school students to enter the documentary contest. In response, C-SPAN received over 1,600 entries from 42 states and Washington, D.C. The most popular topics addressed were:

• Artificial Intelligence, Technology, and Social Media (18%)
• Abortion, Health Care, and Mental Health (17%)
• Climate, Energy & Land Use, and Pollution (13%)
• School Safety, Gun Policy, and Criminal Justice (11%)
• Economy, School Funding, and Homelessness (8%)

“In recognition of the 20th anniversary of C-SPAN's StudentCam competition, this year we asked students to either look 20 years into the future or to reflect on a topic of importance to them and its past," said Craig McAndrew, director of C-SPAN Education Relations. "Students have skillfully blended their perspectives with in-depth research and an array of expert interviews, and we are thrilled to share their accomplishments with their local communities, and the nation.”

C-SPAN is funded by America’s cable television companies, its partners in StudentCam. Each winning video is available to view at studentcam.org and may be used in a broadcast with attribution to C-SPAN.

The annual StudentCam 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.

About C-SPAN Classroom:

C-SPAN Classroom uses the network's programs on public affairs, coverage of Congress, nonfiction books and American history to create FREE digital tools for teachers, students, and the public to use in classrooms, in 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 X/Twitter and Facebook.

About C-SPAN:

C-SPAN, the private nonprofit public affairs media organization providing Americans with unfiltered access to government proceedings, was created in 1979 as a public service by the cable television industry, and is primarily funded through fees paid by cable and satellite companies that provide

C-SPAN's networks to subscribers. C-SPAN connects with millions of Americans through its three commercial-free TV networks, C-SPAN Radio, C-SPAN Podcasts, the C-SPAN Now app, a new connected-TV streaming app C-SPAN Select, C-SPAN.org and various social media platforms. The network's video-rich website contains nearly 300,000 hours of searchable and shareable content.

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