Huntington High School video arts students are in the hunt for prize money. The teenage filmmakers have their eyes set on some big contest awards. It’s helped motivate them to work harder than ever.
Students are entering public service announcement videos in four separate contests. “PSAs are extremely important and this is why there are so many competitions available with monetary rewards,” said teacher Heather Swan, who heads Huntington High School’s video arts program. “The students get ‘siked’ when there is not only a grade attached to their projects, but also a financial incentive.”
Emma Pipolo, Jack Glicker, Tania Ulloa, Celine Palermo, Luis Cuji, Griffin Bluemer, David Mosden, Jacqueline Caravetto, Thomas Friebolin, Erick Joya-Amaya, Lindsay Martin and Noah Morris are all producing PSA videos that will be entered in a pair of contests.
The video created by the Huntington students is designed to deter teenagers from “driving distracted.” It will be submitted to Toyota’s Teen Drive 365 contest, which offers some impressive prizes, including a grade prize of $15,000, a second place award of $10,000, a third place prize of $7,500 and fourth through tenth place prizes of $2,500. Visit http://www.toyota.com/teendrive365 for more information about the contest.
The filmmaking team will also submit their PSA to the American Automobile Association for its traffic safety contest. There is a $750 grand prize. Separate prizes of $300, $200 and $100 for first, second and third places, respectively, will be awarded for each grade level. Visit www.aaa.com/safety for more information.
Huntington senior Marco Caporuscio is entering the Operation Prevention video contest by submitting a PSA on the misuse of prescription opioids. “The Drug Enforcement Agency and Discovery Education have joined forces to combat a growing epidemic of prescription opioid misuse and heroin use nationwide,” according to the organization’s website. “Operation Prevention’s mission is to educate students about the true impacts of opioids and kick-start lifesaving conversations in the home and classroom.”
Operation Prevention prizes include $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place. Visit https://www.operationprevention.com/video-challenge for more information.
Sophomore Noah Morris is vying in C-SPAN’s StudentCam political documentary contest. Filmmakers are asked to address this question: “What is the most urgent issue for the new president and Congress to address in 2017?” A total of $100,000 in prize money is available. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 8 at 9 a.m. Visit http://www.studentcam.org for more information.
While the Huntington filmmakers are expected to make a full-fledged run at prizes in all four contests, they will be vying against many other talented teenagers.
“Over the years, the popularity and accessibility of video equipment has become more available to our youth and in return the video contests have become more competitive,” Mrs. Swan said. “With all of that being said, I have a wonderfully creative group of students and I am hopeful their hard work gets recognized.”
