APS media specialists and their students win in international media competition

UPDATE: Watch D.H. Stanton’s award-winning projects here, here and here!

Eight of the 16 state competition-winning projects submitted by APS students (in collaboration with their media specialists) won at the International Student Media Festival earlier this month. Three of the winners came on collaborations with D.H. Stanton Elementary media specialist Brenda Street (pictured above, with Imani Bostic). Her winning projects came from students Derricka Jones and Shykeria Meriweather, Tanesheia Arnold and Raygan Headrick, and Imani Bostic and Derrick Pullins. The other winning schools and students, with their teachers in parentheses: Cook Elementary’s Niya Anderson (Zenobia Johnson), Gideons Elementary’s Keniya Isham and Carmia Chilsom (Veronica Jordan), Mary Lin Elementary’s Hanna Stockdale, Braden Pressmen, Elijah Coons and Nyla Swain (Kerri Mercer), B.E.S.T. Academy’s Jaquez Ward (Kellye Carter) and Grady High’s Kathleen Quillian (Joe Hirsch). APS’s 16 state winners were out of 56 submissions. This compares to 12 entrees last year, with two advancing to the international competition.

Which brings us back to Street, who is not stranger to this competition, in which student projects that may be still photographs, movies, PowerPoint presentations or animated clips. Projects may be a public service announcement (PSA), an instructional piece or a purely informative one. Winners in the Georgia contest are permitted to move on to the international competition. Yes, Street supervised the two winners in last year’s international competition.

“This competition provides APS media specialists, and their students, an international audience to showcase our outstanding student work,” said Warren Goetzel, APS’ media servics coordinator. “In an increasingly technologically rich society, this will help student success in the classroom and later in the workplace. This is a true reflection of 21 century learning activities.”

Here’s a complete list of the winners, in order of school, media specialist/teacher, title of entry, producer (student), and type of media producation:
Cook Elementary — Zenobia Johnson, “The Life Cycle of a Butterfly; Niya Anderson (sequential stills, without audio)
Grady High — Joe Hirsch (teacher), “Arson at Paideia School’s ‘Mother Goose’ Building; Kathleen Quillian (live action)
Mary Lin Elementary — Kerri Mercer (teacher), “Babe Ruth”; Hannah Stockdale, Braden Pressmen, Elijah Coons, Nyla Swain (website)
D.H. Stanton Elementary — Brenda Street, “Don’t Hesitate!” Tessellate!”; Derricka Jones, Shykeria Meriweather (sequential stills, without audio)
D.H. Stanton Elementary — Brenda Street, “The Inuit: People of the Arctic”; Tanesheia Arnold, Raygan Headrick (sequential stills, without audio)
D.H. Stanton Elementary — Brenda Street, “Countdown to Meltdown”; Imani Bostic, Derrick Pullins (sequential stills, without audio)
Gideons Elementary — Veronica Jordan (teacher), “Digital Video Journal of Atlanta Flood 2009; Keniya Isham, Carmia Chilsom (live action)
B.E.S.T. Academy — Kellye Carter, “Beauty is … JOY”; Jaquez Ward (sequential stills, without audio)

Learn more about the International Student Media Festival after the jump.

About ISMF
What is the International Student Media Festival?
The International Student Media Festival celebrates outstanding classroom media projects. Students and teachers from kindergarten through college are honored in a three-day event that includes workshops, screenings of winning entries, and an awards ceremony. It has now grown to be one of the oldest and largest events of its kind. ISMF has been sponsored since 1974 by the Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT), a non-profit organization improving instruction through technology.

Why Celebrate Student Produced Media?
Student media projects such as live action video, website design, animation and photography foster learning across the curriculum. At the elementary and junior high school levels, reading comprehension, writing skills and math facilities are developed. In addition to those areas, high school and college students increase their abilities to plan, analyze, and interpret results. Cooperation and leadership flourish where student media is encouraged.

Student created media, through its involvement in the world of computers, video, sound, and photography, is a proven avenue to increasing student participation in the classroom learning environment. State and National educational standards are met and surpassed in the exciting atmosphere of creativity cultivated through the use of student media projects. Future academic and employment opportunities increase in relationship to the rise in technological proficiency.

How Do I Enter a Media Project Into ISMF?
A teacher or parent agrees to be the “Sponsor” for student entries. The Sponsor submits information about the project(s) to ISMF through an online entry process. Once a project has been entered, the Sponsor will have access to online tools to track and edit the project information. Please read our Entry Guide for details.

The International Student Media Festival generally accepts entries from April 1 to June 1, each year. For International entries, the deadline to submit is June 30. If there is a problem with meeting a deadline date, please contact us.

Who attends the Festival?
Every year thousands of students in all grades from across the country, as well as internationally, produce media for educational purposes, dramatic use, and web publication, as well as classroom projects. These are then submitted for judging in local and state competitions, such as those held by the Florida Association of Media Educators, the Georgia Student Media Festival, the Oklahoma Student Media Festival, the Association of Indiana Media Educators, and the California Student Media Festival. All of these other festivals then submit their winners to the International Student Media Festival for another level of competition. However, it is not a prerequisite that a media project be entered in other media festivals before being entered in ISMF.

Projects are judged in categories including Live Action video, Sequential Stills slideshows, Interactive Stills, Photography, Web Design, Podcasts, and Animation.

What Happens at the Festival?
The festival is usually three to four days long and is jam packed with hands-on, creative learning experiences for students, teachers, and parents. Various workshops for all ages are offered by our Corporate Partners throughout the festival. In the past we’ve offered workshop topics such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, iMovie, claymation, Garageband, and many more! (Workshops are subject to change each year).

There is also an awards ceremony during the festival where students are recognized for their achievements. Outstanding projects will receive an Excellence in Media Production award. From these, we cull out Judges’ Favorites and the highly-acclaimed Best of Festival designation.