Seven eighth-graders at Correia Middle School in Point Loma won more than $4,000 collectively in a national documentary competition presented by C-SPAN.
The annual StudentCam contest tasks students with composing a short documentary related to a suggested topic. To commemorate the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, the theme this year was the “endurance and relevance” of the Declaration of Independence.
The students at Correia Middle School, aided by teachers Stacey Tinsley and Keri Clark, arranged interviews with high-profile subjects for their short films.
Tinsley said the students already had studied the Declaration of Independence as part of the school curriculum ahead of the C-SPAN competition, giving them “a pretty solid foundation.”
“They could draw from whatever experiences they wanted to,” Tinsley said.
More than 1,800 documentaries were submitted this year from nearly 4,000 students across 38 states and Washington, D.C. The submissions were judged by a team of three former teachers who work in C-SPAN’s education department.
C-SPAN awarded one grand prize, four first prizes, 16 second prizes, 32 third prizes and 97 honorable mentions.
Albert Velasquez, government affairs manager for Cox Communications, which partners regionally with C-SPAN, underscored the students’ achievements at a May 19 recognition ceremony in the Correia Middle School library.
“You’re competing against all the middle schools nationwide,” Velasquez told the eighth-graders. “When you go into high school, they actually tier by region, [but] this was from all 50 states, and the level of excellence you’ve shown makes it wonderful to be here to celebrate your creativity.”
Representatives of U.S. Rep. Scott Peters and state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson presented the students with certificates of appreciation, and a liaison from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office bestowed first-place winners Harper Haden and Helena de la Houssaye with bouquets of flowers and a note from Sheriff Kelly Martinez.
Rachel Katz, affiliate relations manager at C-SPAN, attended the ceremony for a question-and-answer segment and to award the students with certificates.
Rachel Katz, affiliate relations manager at C-SPAN, presents Correia Middle School eighth-graders Harper Haden and Helena de la Houssaye with a ceremonial check for $3,000 for winning first prize for their documentary “This is What Democracy Looks Like.” (Tyler Faurot)
Harper and Helena won first prize and $3,000 for their documentary “This is What Democracy Looks Like,” drawing parallels between the 27 grievances in the Declaration of Independence and the aims of the contemporary “No Kings” protests.
Helena said the political messaging in the No Kings movement proved challenging in getting a balance of input from people they interviewed.
“Some of our interviewees came off with a little bit of a bias, but the sheriff had a more neutral outlook, which balanced out our documentary,” she said.
“As documentarians, it’s really important to include all perspectives on the issue,” Harper said, “and we realized that a lot of the criticisms of the movement were people calling it anti-American, so we thought it was important to hear from a neutral law enforcement officer that engaging in peaceful protest and exercising our First Amendment rights is one of the most American things you can do.”
Harper and Helena won second prize in the StudentCam competition last year for a documentary on the impacts of fentanyl.
This year, the two knew exactly what they wanted from the start, according to Clark and Tinsley.
“Last year they stewed for a bit on the topic, but this time around they were locked in,” Clark said.
“They were almost competing with themselves from last year,” Tinsley said. “But last year was such a fantastic entry that it was already such a high bar.”
Correia eighth-grader Celeste Stout won third prize and $750 for her video “The Limits of Difference: From the Declaration of Independence to United States v. Virginia,” which highlighted how societal movements impact institutional changes.
U.S. v. Virginia was a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the long-standing male-only admission policy of the Virginia Military Institute.
“Women were being held back by what people believed but not what was proven,” Celeste said. “I still see this dismissive attitude toward women, even though we put in just as much effort as anybody. I wanted to show that biological differences are not an explanation for discrimination and that they will never be.”
Rachel Katz of C-SPAN interviews Correia Middle School eighth-grader Celeste Stout about her third-prize documentary, “The Limits of Difference: From the Declaration of Independence to United States v. Virginia.” (Tyler Faurot)
Students Mia Martin and Josie Connor also won third prize and $750 for their video “The Writer’s Declaration: 148 Days to Save Hollywood,” focusing on the Writers Guild of America strike in 2023. The documentary argues there is a common thread of collective bargaining inherent in the Declaration of Independence.
“I was amazed at how such a staple in American culture and the people creating it could stop working just to fight for this cause,” Mia said. “I think it’s very powerful that they did that.”
“The biggest thing that stood out to me was they were all fighting for what they believed in and agreed on it together,” Josie said. “So it went alongside with the Declaration of Independence.”
Elsa Elkovitch and Myla Hannah won an honorable mention and $250 for their documentary “Gun Violence in America: How Much is Too Much?”
Katz of C-SPAN noted the continuing relevance of the subject given the fatal shootings at the Islamic Center of San Diego in Clairemont just the day before.
All the prize-winning student documentaries are available to watch at studentcam.org/studentcam-2026-prize-winners.