Every year Wilson students participate in film competitions across the country. From San Diego, California to Atlanta, Georgia, students in Kadesha Bonds’ Mass Media and Communication classes enter videos in hopes of winning local and national awards.

This year, students in Bonds’ class entered the C-SPAN Documentary contest. The theme for this year’s contest was centered around the question, “What’s the issue YOU most want candidates to discuss during the 2016 presidential campaign?” Submitted videos focused on the economy, homelessness, gender issues, and much more. And Wilson students came out successful.

Eight documentaries were submitted by Wilson students and, for the third year in a row, Wilson students received top honors out of close to 2,900 entries. The Tigers came out with two third place finishes and two honorable mentions.

Junior Maia Grieve received third place for her video “Poverty and Homelessness in the United States.”

Seniors David Fadul and Ali Rashedi (pictured above) won third place for their video entitled “Money in Politics v. The United States.”

Junior Mark Jackson received honorable mention for his video entitled “Branches of Leaves” and senior Ali Sefsaf also received honorable mention for “Dreaming of Deferred Action.”

Rashedi was ecstatic about his third place finish. “Placing was a real confidence booster to enter more competitions and to keep making videos,” Rashedi said.

Grieve was also excited about her third place award. “It feels amazing to be recognized for my work, but what I’m most happy about is being able to spread awareness about the topic [poverty] and giving the people I interviewed the attention they deserve,” Grieve said.   

Congratulations to the Tigers for an impressive showing. The rest of the winning videos from the competition can be found here: http://www.studentcam.org/winners16.htm