C-SPAN announced today that students in Katy, Texas, are winners in C-SPAN’s national 2020 StudentCam competition. The following students from Cinco Ranch High School have won prizes:

Melissa Conteras, Hana Glaesemann and Abigail Johnson will receive $750 as third prize winners for the documentary, "Behind Closed Doors: The Untold Truth," about human trafficking.

Steven Huffman, Ethan Hart and James Kloss will receive $250 as honorable mention winners for the documentary, "Foster Doesn't Care."

Each year since 2006, C-SPAN partners with local cable television providers in communities nationwide to invite middle and high school students to produce short documentaries about a subject of national importance. This year students addressed the theme, "What's Your Vision in 2020? Explore the issue you most want presidential candidates to address during the campaign."

In response, nearly 5,400 students from 44 states and Washington, D.C., participated. C-SPAN received over 2,500 submissions on a variety of topics. The most popular topics addressed were:

Environment (18%) – Climate Change, Green New Deal, Pollution and Plastics

Equality/Discrimination (15%) – Prison Rights, Affirmative Action, Veterans' Rights, Human Rights

Guns (13%) – Gun Control, Mass Shootings, Second Amendment, Gun Safety

Health Care (12%) – Universal Health Care, Mental Health, Addictions, Vaping

Immigration (9%) – Border Security, Undocumented Immigration, Separation of Families, DACA

"StudentCam provides a platform for young people to have their voices heard on the issues they are clearly passionate about," said C-SPAN's Director of Education Relations Craig McAndrew. "This year's entries reflect remarkable research and production values and feature a wide range of interviews with elected officials and experts. The life skills students learn from this experience will carry them forward in their academic, personal and professional lives."

C-SPAN is funded by America’s cable television companies, who also support StudentCam. In Katy, C-SPAN is available locally through Comcast.

These winners are among the 330 students from across the country winning a total of $100,000. C-SPAN is awarding one grand prize, 4 first prizes, 16 second prizes, 32 third prize winners and 97 honorable mention prizes. The winning videos will receive cash awards of $5,000, $3,000, $1,500, $750 and $250, respectively. This year marks the 16th year of the StudentCam competition, which has awarded over $1,000,000 in prizes.

High school students competed on a regional level, with the United States divided into three regions: West, Central and East. Middle school students were judged on a national basis. The grand prize winner was selected nationally among all regions and grade levels.

The 150 winning videos can be viewed at http://www.studentcam.org and may be used in a broadcast with attribution to C-SPAN. To schedule an interview with one or more of the winning students, please contact Pam McGorry at pmcgorry@c-span.org.

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.