Five Freedoms PSA Contest Announces Winners
A First Amendment rap poem and a montage of the First Amendment’s five freedoms were the winners in the Third Annual Five Freedoms Public Service Announcement Contest, a national video competition for high school students.
Hawaii’s Waianae High School won Grand Prize for its 30-second First Amendment rap, “One Right,” by students Laurissa Asuega and Martinea Trippett. Their teacher is Candy Suiso.
Decatur High School in Georgia won Grand Prize for its 15-second montage, “Five Freedoms PSA,” by students Asa Aroesty and Lauren Ford. Their teacher is Jon Reese.
Each school will receive $1,000 for its broadcast journalism program. In addition all Grand Prize-winning students and their teachers will win trips to Washington, D.C., for the Grand Opening of the Newseum on April 11-12.
“This year we received more than 250 entries in the Five Freedoms PSA Contest. That’s a new record – and a credit to the Student Television Network and to the addition of SchoolTube and the Newseum as partners” said Carol Knopes, director of education projects at the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation. “Judges were impressed by the winners’ strong First Amendment messages and video skills.”
Contest final-round judges were Mark Goodman, Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University and former executive director of the Student Press Law Center; Sam Chaltain, founding director of the Five Freedoms Project, and Rich Foster, Director of Programs at the Newseum.
Five Freedoms PSA Contest :30 Winner
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30-Second PSA Winners
Second Place ($250 Prize)
Rancho Bernardo High School, San Diego, CA.
“Free Your Thoughts”
Students Travis Johnston and Brandon Johnston
Teacher: Ross Kallen
Third Place ($100 Prize)
Jersey Village High School, Houston, Texas
“Freedom”
Students Steven Flores, Kaylee Evans and Austin Sarabia
Teacher: Cindy Stoker
Five Freedoms PSA Contest :15 Winners
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15-Second PSA Winners
Second Place ($250 Prize)
Gahanna Lincoln High School, Gahanna, OH
“First Amendment Final”
Student: Andrew Igdaloff
Teacher: Tom Gregory
Third Place ($100 Prize)
Washington High School, Washington, MO
“The BEST Gift Ever – The First Amendment”
Students Jennifer Hemmer, Lynette Hischier and Sarah Peats
Teacher: Michelle Hoch
The Five Freedoms PSA Contest is co-sponsored by the High School Project of the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation; the Student Television Network, the largest organization of high school broadcast teachers; SchoolTube, the free teacher-monitored video-sharing website; and the Newseum, the interactive museum of news opening soon on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.
First and second-place videos will be aired this week on the national in-school news source Channel One, as part of Sunshine Week, a time to celebrate the First Amendment and open government. Videos will also be available on the Internet at www.SchoolTube.com and RTNDF’s high school broadcast journalism site, www.hsbj.org.
The Five Freedoms Contest is funded by a generous grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
For the first time, RTNDF offered
Early Bird prizes. This year one prize went to the very first entry and to the entries that received the highest
$100 - First Entry Entered on Oct. 31, 2007
Prison Break by Ola High School
$100 – January Entry with the Highest Ranking –3.720
Don’t Let Your Rights Be Left in the Dark byEast Lake High School
$100 - Month’s Highest Ranking February Pre-Deadline - 4.473
Freedom of Speech by Osceola High School $100