Student and Teacher Prizes
Each year C-SPAN awards a total of $100,000 in cash prizes to the student filmmakers of the top 150 student documentaries, as well as the teacher advisers of the top 50 documentaries.
Prizes are awarded in four separate categories: Middle School & High School-East, High School-Central, and High School-West.
GRAND
PRIZE
1 award - the best overall entry in either the High School or Middle School category.
Student(s): $5,000 cash prize award.
Teacher/School: $750 cash prize award.
FIRST
PRIZE
4 awards total - 3 in the High School category (1 x HS West Region, 1 x HS Central Region, 1 x HS East Region), and 1 in the Middle School category.
Student(s): $3,000 cash prize award per entry
Teacher/School: $500 cash prize award
SECOND
PRIZE
16 awards total - 12 in the High School category (4 x HS West Region, 4 x HS Central Region, 4 x HS East Region), and 4 in the Middle School category.
Student(s): $1,500 cash prize award per entry
Teacher/School: $250 cash prize award
THIRD
PRIZE
32 awards total - 24 in the High School category (8 x HS West Region, 8 x HS Central Region, 8 x HS East Region), and 8 in the Middle School category.
Student(s): $750 cash prize award per entry
Teacher/School: $125 cash prize award
HONORABLE
MENTION
97 awards total - awarded to entries from either the High School or Middle School category.
Student(s): $250 cash prize award per entry
- High School entries are judged regionally in one of 3 Regions (West/Central/East), based on their school’s state. We also welcome entries from students in the U.S. territories, and international students who are in the equivalent of U.S. grades 6-12.Students from U.S. territories Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will be judged as part of the East division, and students from U.S. territories American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands will be judged as part of the West division.
Entries from international high school students in Asia-Pacific regions will be judged against the High School-West division entries, international high school students in European and African countries will be judged against High School-East division entries, and international high school students in South and Central America will be judged against High School-Central division entries.
Middle School entries are judged nationally against their peers. Any international entries from middle school students will be judged against all middle school entries received in the competition.
- 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 adviser in order to participate. If a teacher acts as an adviser, his or her name must be listed on the student’s Entry Form in order for them to be eligible for the StudentCam adviser cash prize.
- C-SPAN also reserves the right to award a “Fan Favorite” – a secondary cash prize that will be awarded to one of the top prize-winning entries (as determined by C-SPAN judges). The student video that receives the most votes during a week-long period of online public voting will win the “Fan Favorite” award and an additional $500 cash prize.
- C-SPAN will also select and award up to 10 teams who will each receive a $100 cash prize if they share “Behind the Scenes” photos from the production of their StudentCam documentary on their social media. For more information about the “Behind the Scenes” competition, click here.
