Alaska teens receive honorable mention in C-SPAN competition

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - In November, Emily Ross and Jack Murkowski were given an assignment in their debate class at Lumen Christi High School to participate in the national 2022 StudentCam competition, put on by C-SPAN.

The annual competition by C-SPAN changes themes each year, with this year’s theme touching on how federal policy or programs affect their lives.

Ross, a junior, and Murkowski, a senior, chose to focus on the impact that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs have had on their lives.

“A lot of that really impacts a lot of people up here,” Murkowski said. “So sometimes laws and regulations are put into place kind of mindlessly, without kind of being aware of how it affects people’s lifestyles up here.”

The duo crafted their six-minute documentary focusing on the personal impact they have seen the program have on their families.

“I talked about my elderly grandparents and how they can’t hunt as well as they could when they were more healthy and young,” Ross said.

On March 16, Ross discovered that she and Murkowski were chosen as honorable mention winners for the competition.

“I looked at my email and I read that we won, like $250, and I texted Jack, ‘Jack, look what we did!’ and I think that was pretty cool,” Ross said.

Over 3,000 contestants applied for this year’s competition. Entries came in from across the country, ranging from middle to high school contestants. According to C-SPAN, the winning entries were chosen for how well the project was researched, its visual components and its personal touch.

“They wove it all together to produce a really engaging documentary,” Pam McGorry, the Education Program Senior Specialist for C-SPAN Television Network, said. “... They talked about the regulations they must follow in order to provide food for themselves and their families, and how that impacts them.”

Murkowski said their project provides C-SPAN with an inside perspective at what it means to live in Alaska and the realities it poses for families.

“(It’s about) how that affects people and how the regulations put in place by the federal government or what the federal government necessarily does affects a lot of Alaskans up here.”

Winning entries are available on the C-SPAN competition page.

Copyright 2022 KTUU. All rights reserved.