Stevenson students' video wins prize in C-SPAN contest

Stevenson High School seniors Alexander Sofronas and Elan Modilevsky have won third prize in C-SPAN's national 2014 StudentCam video competition, the network announced.

The teens will receive $750 for their documentary, "Cameras in the Supreme Court," which was about televising Supreme Court oral arguments.

The national competition, now in its 10th year, invites middle school and high school students to produce a five- to seven-minute documentary on a national policy issue.

This year, students were asked to answer the question, "What's the most important issue the U.S. Congress should consider in 2014?"

In response, C-SPAN received 2,355 video submissions from more than 4,800 students in 46 states and Washington, D.C.

"StudentCam serves as a yearly reminder that young people are not only passionate about issues of national significance, but their ideas and opinions are also worthy of our consideration," said Craig McAndrew, C-SPAN's manager of education relations.

"The level of critical thought, effort, and initiative that students have demonstrated in creating their documentaries is inspiring, and we are thrilled to share this year's winning videos with both Congress and the public," McAndrew added.

Documentaries were judged by a panel of C-SPAN education representatives and evaluated 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.

The 150 winning videos may be viewed at studentcam.org/winners14.htm.