Sobering Documentary On Unemployment Garners Grand Prize For Josh Stokes

Josh Stokes, a senior at Daniel Hand High School, has been named the Grand Prize winner in the 2013 StudentCam competition, says Madison School Superintendent Thomas Scarice. 

"C-SPAN announced the 75 winning videos in the 2013 StudentCam competition. There were a 1,893 films received in this year's competition. A total of 3,753 students representing 44 states, as well as Washington DC, and Taiwan, took part in the competition," Scarice said. "There was only one grand prize winner, Josh Stokes of Daniel Hand High School."

Scarice said the question this year was, ”What is the most challenging issue facing the new president?”  Stokes' topic was unemployment.

Documentary addresses ramifications of being unemployed

"His documentary addressed the ramifications of being unemployed," Scarice said. 

The documentary starts in Madison, then moves to New York City to talk with people who are unemployed and the ramifications in every area of a person's life. "It's horrific," says one man featured in the documentary. The documentary also features politicians and employers who have had to lay people off. The video concludes by saying unemployment is the most important issue facing President Barack Obama this year.

"Natural talent and passion for film making"

Stokes, 17, is a senior and has been accepted to the University of Rhode Island, USC in Northridege and other schools and has yet to decide where he is going to go next year, Scarice said.

After school, he works for Outthink Marketing Company in Essex.

"He has a natural talent and passion for film making and has spent significant time to developing his technique in high school under the tutelage of his teacher, Luke Arsenault,' Scarice said. "We could not be happier or more proud of Josh!!"

Here is a link to the announcement:  http://www.studentcam.org/winners13.htm

***

Here is the prepared release from C-SPAN: 

WASHINGTON (March 6, 2013) – Josh Stokes, a senior at Daniel Hand High School in Madison, CT, will receive $5,000 as Grand Prize winner in C-SPAN’s national 2013 StudentCam competition for his video entitled, “Unemployment in America.” 

Every year since 2006, C-SPAN has invited middle school students (grades 6-8) and high school students (grades 9-12) to produce a five- to eight- minute documentary on a national issue. This year, students used cameras to answer the question, “What’s the most important issue the president should consider in 2013?”

More than 3,500 students in 44 states and Washington, DC sent a total of 1,893 entries to C-SPAN this year— nearly 60 percent more than the number of entries received in 2012. Students worked in teams or as individuals to address a wide range of public policy issues, from bullying to troop withdrawal to the national debt.

The most popular topic in 2013 was the economy. Nineteen percent of entries were about economic issues such as unemployment, poverty and the national debt, followed by education (10 percent) and the environment (8 percent).

“StudentCam proves yearly that students are paying attention to the pressing issues of the day- and right now, that’s the economy,” said Joanne Wheeler, C-SPAN Vice President of Education Relations.  “As the president begins his second term, students took advantage of a great opportunity to send him a public message about what is most important to them, and the winning videos are compelling.”

“Because education and youth development are important focus areas for Comcast’s community investment initiatives, we are excited to recognize Josh Stokes on his winning documentary in this year’s annual C-SPAN StudentCam competition,” said Kristen Roberts, Regional Vice President of Public Relations and Community Investment.  “We are proud to partner with C-SPAN each year on this competition which allows students to think creatively about issues that affect their community and nation.”

Alan Shimp from Midland, PA, won First Prize in the high school category for his documentary entitled, “Free Candy,” and the team of Parin Bhaduri, Austin Hoag, and Nalin Varma, from Knoxville, TN, received First Prize in the middle school category for their video entitled, “Public Transportation in the Nation.” Each First Prize award is valued at $3,000.

In addition to the Grand Prize and First Prize winners, C-SPAN is awarding eight 2nd prizes, 16 3rd prizes and 48 honorable mentions. Each winning video is available at www.c-span.org/studentcam and may be used in a broadcast with attribution to C-SPAN.  To schedule an interview with one or more winningstudents or with C-SPAN education staff, please contact Pam McGorry, Education Programs Specialist, at 202.626.4861.

The annual 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 is a free membership service dedicated to supporting educators’ use of C-SPAN programming and websites in their classes or for research.  Members of C-SPAN Classroom may access free Timely Teachable Videos and video clips for use in the classroom, as well as lesson plans, handouts and ways to connect with other C-SPAN Classroom members. C-SPAN Classroom has reached more than one million students since its inception in 1987. For more information on C-SPAN Classroom visit the website: http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/ or follow on twitter: @CSPAN_Classroom.

About C-SPAN:  Created by the cable TV industry and now in 100 million TV households, C-SPAN programs three public affairs television networks in both SD and HD; C- SPAN Radio, heard in Washington DC and nationwide via XM Satellite Radio; and a video-rich website which hosts the C-SPAN Video Library. Visit http://www.c-span.org/.