The nation’s oldest media festival for students is tomorrow, June 2–the 41st California Student Media & Multimedia Festival. Last time we tracked numbers, thousands of students had participated through hundreds of projects, K-12. If you are in California, it’s free to attend! There are locations in northern and southern California. I had the privilege of reviewing the projects this year and, as always, there is some fantastic stuff. From elementary kids doing talk shows to high school computer animations, there is plenty of proof that teachers are doing the right job with the next generation. Some favorites 
are STAR Prep Academy’s report of self-esteem, the Granada Hills Elementary video on neglected food groups "abandoning" the food pyramid in protest, and DEN member Kim Randall’s students at Saint Andrew’s quintessential middle school animation on digestion. I’ll let you guess whether middle school spends more attention on the food entering or exiting the body. Try to guess the song he used…There are also great videos from Carpenter Street on the Cuban 
Missile Crisis with a student chromakeying into the action, and Ishi Hills Middle School’s very funny go-cart visualization of a classic story being told.
When media matters, you can bet there are members of the Discovery Educator Network involved. In addition to winners like Kim Randall, DEN stars Genevieve Kahlweiss and Karen Green were involved in the judging. Judy Lieb and Janet English also did
yeoman’s work to make the festival happen. There is no charge to enter, there are $1,000 prizes for overall winners, and volunteers like them make it happen. Some of the best incorporated the editable clips in unitedstreaming videos, such as Capo Beach Calvary’s powerful "Walking the Night" video, which is riveting. There were videos on making video, like 
"Deconstructing Cain" from Villa Park High School, and special effects like Fenton Avenue’s
"The Book That Saved Fenton," which chromakeyed the class into the pages of a book as alien intruders. There is Dana Hills High School’s updated version of the parable poem "The Box" which brings tears to nearly everyone’s eyes, and a great submission from Val Verde, "Eric the Homeboy," that blends flash animation, video, and a great message. Hopefully, you’ll 
make it to the festival on Saturday, or catch me sometime at conference showing the clips!
Hmmm, what if Discovery gave students a media challenge by supplying the clips and judging the best mash up. Ponder that… If you have a student festival you’d like me to mention, post the link
in the comments. The Slick Rock Festival, the VIC Awards, and the International Student Media Festival come to mind…
Love the mash up idea! Let’s do it! We’ll gladly pilot it…. 🙂
During the summer, I am going to try to gather info. on the media fests/contests as well as some other activities discussed here during the school year. I need the summer to plan out any possibilities, especially since I work with young second graders. I might have some really good multimedia equipment available right in my classroom (emphasis on “might” and “right in my classroom”) for a pilot program. The purpose of the program will be to study the impact on learning of having the equipment in the classroom available for the children to use. In other words, we need to show evidence of improved student learning/attitude. There are four teachers who will be participating in the program. We are hoping to be able to have our children work together (different schools/different grades). I would love to be able to extend our projects to include events/activities that reach more than those in our classrooms and school districts. It would help make the point that the technology is there to improve communication as well as the importance of actually being able to communicate. I am very competitive, however, so we would, of course, have to win something 🙂 That way, we would be sure to have a successful pilot!!!
Hall-
What am I?…chopped liver? FYI…I also was involved in the judging for this, not that I am looking for any credit here or anything…LOL. Sorry I missed the Festival!
Jenith- I told him you were involved too when I read the blog!!! 😉 Hhhmmmmm
Don’t forget me. I was also involved along with Genny Kalweiss. It was hard judging, so many videos were very good. LOL
Okay, okay, I surrender to all the great stars of stars who judged and made the oldest media festival possible!! 🙂 Jenith and Kimberly, you were, in fact, a big part of the core reason that this festival works! I confess I only acknowledged the STAR DEN that I knew took part. Little did I know how many were lurking in the support structure! Knowing the DEN, I should have known better. You and your fellow judges are the big reason why we can do this Festival for teachers and students–and the reason why the Festival can do it without an entry fee. Why should teachers have to pay for submitting student work!?! So my hats are off to you. Of course, we did do a loving video tribute to you both, with music, pictures of you as children, and testimonials from the governor–at least, that was my memory 🙂 Genny can tell you…:) OK, maybe that was a dream sequence….Really, thanks for everything. (And don’t forget if you want to see the archival copy DVD with the winning clips, let me know–now I’ll see who reads the comments…!)
As a long time non-judge who for years has had nothing to do with the festival, but who has always admired it, I’d love to have an archival DVD.