We're thrilled to have Ella Grace Rodriguez join us as an intern this semester. Ella Grace is a 3-time C-SPAN StudentCam prize winner and is now in her freshman year attending USC film school. She'll share her experience and expertise on all facets of the competition through a series of tutorials that she will develop for students this fall.StudentCam is C-SPAN's annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation.This year students in grades 6-12 are asked toon a topic related to the competition theme, "Explore the issue you most want the president and new Congress to address in 2021."With cash prizes totaling $100,000 each year, C-SPAN awards prizes to the top 150 student documentaries, and over 50 teacher advisers. Since 2004, C-SPAN has awarded over $1 million dollars in cash prizes to past-winning students and teachers.

"Explore the issue you most want the president and new Congress to address in 2021"

The competition is open to all students in grades 6-12. Grades 6-8 compete in the Middle School category, and grades 9-12 compete in the High School category. For more information, visit our Prizes page.



page. Students may compete individually, or in teams of either 2 or 3 members.



Documentaries must include clips of supporting or opposing C-SPAN video that relate to the chosen topic.



Winning StudentCam documentaries will thoroughly explore a variety of viewpoints related to the chosen topic, including those that may oppose the filmmakers points of view. We recommend that you interview experts on your chosen subject.



Documentaries must be between 5-6 minutes in length. *End credits, if applicable, must begin after the 5-minute mark but are permitted to run longer than the allotted 6-minute time frame.



Entries must include either end credits or a works cited list. Students can use whichever format they currently use to cite their sources.

Click here for a printable(Google Doc)For the complete list of competition rules, click here