Homestead High School

Homnestead’s Leah Steup  won 2nd Prize in the High School Central division for her documentary, “Kids First: Indiana’s Child Welfare System.” 

C-SPAN, in cooperation with its cable and satellite television partners, asked America’s middle and high school students to address the theme — “Your Message to the President: What issue is most important to you or your community?” 

In response, C-SPAN received over 1,700 entries and nearly 3,500 students participated from 42 states and Washington, D.C.

C-SPAN’s Director of Education Relations Craig McAndrew said to Leah and the other finalists: “Congratulations to all of the incredibly talented young students who won awards in this year’s competition! Through in-depth research and interviews with an array of topical and technical experts, you have crafted impactful short stories that capture issues of wide public interest and importance. These documentaries set a very high bar for future StudentCam filmmakers, and you should be proud knowing your work will inspire your peers and foster thoughtful consideration from all audiences. We can’t wait to see what you do next!”

In addition to the grand-prize and first-prize winners, C-SPAN is awarding 16 second prizes, 32 third prizes and 97 honorable mention prizes. These winning videos will receive cash awards of $1,500, $750 and $250, respectively. High school students competed on a regional level, with the United States divided into three regions: East, Central and West. Middle school students were judged on a national basis. The grand-prize winner was selected nationally among all regions and grade levels.   

The annual StudentCam competition is funded 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. 

C-Span will be visiting Homestead next month to present the award to Leah.

If you would like to see her video, please click here.

Congratulations, Leah!