Parkersburg, Cedar Falls students win national competition

WASHINGTON - Friday, March 11, 2011 - Senator Chuck Grassley today congratulated four Iowa high school students for winning 1^st and 2^nd prizes in C-SPAN's national 2011 StudentCam competition.  The honors were announced by C-SPAN on Wednesday.

Matthew Wicks, a junior at Aplington-Parkersburg High School, won a 1^st prize, including a $3,000 award, for his documentary titled "After the Storm," about the role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in helping Parkersburg recover from the tornado that hit the community in May 2008.

Three juniors at Cedar Falls High School, Sara Gabriele, Jarek Bakken and Daniel Yehieli, won 2^nd prize, including $1,500, for their video titled "The Price Tag of the American Dream," about education.

Nationwide, C-SPAN recognized one grand prize winner, two 1st prize winners, eight 2^nd prize winners, 16 3^rd prize winners and 48 honorable mentions in this year's competition.  There were 1,481 entries total, according to C-SPAN.  In its seventh year, the StudentCam competition invites middle school and high school students to produce five-to-eight minute documentaries.  This year, the topic was "Washington, D.C., through my lens."  Information about all of the winners is at www.c-span.org/studentcam.  The winning entries can be viewed there

Grassley was interviewed online, via Skype, for both of the Iowa documentaries that won prizes this week.  "I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the students and see their enthusiasm and energy for gaining a better understanding of public policy and its impact on the lives of Americans," Grassley said.  "It's wonderful for all of us in Iowa to see these students gain national recognition and from an organization like C-SPAN, which has enhanced the process of representative government by making government more accessible."

C-SPAN said it plans to air the top 27 videos from the competition, one a day, starting April 1, at 5:50 am (CT), followed by an interview with the winning student at 7:30 am (CT) on "Washington Journal," which is C-SPAN's morning call-in program.

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