Video Contests
Created by RTNDF listserv teachers

Here is a list of local and national awards and competitions for high school students.  If you have a competition that you think should be added to this list please send it to hsbj@rtndf.org.

RTNDF & Partners
  • RTNDF Five Freedoms PSA Contest
    Offering $1,000 Grand Prizes for 30-second and 15-second PSAs celebrating the First Amendment.
  • Student Television Workshop
    Lists several national contests, challenges and film festivals
  • Channel One - Take Action One Cup
    Offers schools around the country an awesome opportunity to show and tell-- through digitally uploaded videos-- the innovative ways teens are improving social conditions individually, locally and abroad. The winning team effort will be awarded the grand prize of $5,000 to support their school's future efforts in promoting good works, with additional prize money granted to four semi-finalist schools to aid their programs. Winning students will each receive a mini DV camcorder, and the grand prize winners may have the opportunity to participate in a valuable learning experience through an internship program.
  • MTV/Knight Foundation Young Creators Award
    Awarding as much as $500,000 for innovative ideas using digital experiments to push journalism into the digital age.
  • Schooltube.com Students' Choice Awards
    Individual awards will be given for the top submissions in all 20 different Students' Choice Awards categories.

Other Contests
  • Apple - Insomnia Film Festival
    Write, cast, shoot, edit, score, and upload a 3-minute short film and each member of your team could win a MacBook Pro, Final Cut Studio 2, Logic Studio, and Shake.
  • Business Professionals of America
    Offers awards in Digital Media Production, Video Production Team and Computer Animation.
  • C-SPAN's StudentCam
    C-SPAN StudentCam invites students to identify a current political topic of interest and produce a short (up to ten minute) video documentary which creatively explores an issue while integrating C-SPAN programming.
  • Career and Technical Education Month Public Service Announcement Contest
    Winning student(s) will receive $750 and one complementary copy of Apple's Final Cut Studio 2, a professional video editing suite for their video PSA promoting CTE Month. Second place student(s) will receive one copy of Final Cut Studio 2.
  • Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA)
    FCCLA offers students and advisers opportunities to participate in over twelve national programs that address important family, work, and societal issues.
  • Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
    The FBLA-PBL National Awards Program recognizes and rewards excellence in a broad range of business and career-related areas. At the State Leadership Conferences, students compete in events testing their business knowledge and skills. Top state winners are then eligible to compete for national awards at the National Leadership Conference each summer.
  • The Hockomock Film Festival
    To enter the HFF, films must be produced by residents of the following towns that comprise the Hockomock League: Canton, Easton, Foxborough, Franklin, Mansfield, Norfolk, No. Attleborough, Plainville, Sharon, Stoughton, Wrentham. There are three categories: drama, documentary and music video. Prizes are given out for each one.
  • Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Journalism Award
    Honoring the outstanding reporting of the lives and strife of disadvantaged people throughout the world. Known as the "Poor People's Pulitzers" within the press arena, these award recipients have brought to light issues spanning from child abuse and juvenile crime to discriminatory banking practices and prejudice against AIDS victims.
  • Kid Witness News New Vision Awards
    Winners are flown to the New York area to participate in a weekend of activities to celebrate their accomplishments.
  • The National Student Television Award for Excellence "Student Emmys"
    This nationwide initiative of The Foundation of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences promotes best practices to high school students. It is intended to be an incentive for the pursuit of excellence in television journalism and to focus public attention on outstanding achievements in television produced by high school students.
  • Passaic County Film Festival
    This year is the third year of the Passaic County Film and Video Festival and it will feature a wide range of film and video projects. This contest targets film and video projects created by students who live or attend school in Passaic County.
  • SkillsUSA
    Students can compete at the local or state level. State winners go on the national competition: The SkillsUSA Championships in Kansas City.
  • Student Filmmakers
    Links to various contests from the home website
  • Technology Student Association
    Participants (three teams per state) develop a film that focuses on a subject of their choice from one or more of the following areas: the arts, social studies, science, or technology. Possible subjects include but are not limited to social study documentaries, nature films, advertisements, comedies, or dramas. Sound may accompany the film/video.
  • Texas Computer Education Association
    TCEA members and their students are invited to take part in TCEA’s exciting annual Student Technology Contests, designed to reward and recognize excellence in technology education.
  • Videomaker Magazine
    Videomaker magazine has a contest in the fall with several categories including one for students
  • Videotivoli Film Festival
    All the films are made by young people, for young people. Videotivoli is a channel through which children and youngsters from all around the world can make their voices heard, and which allows us to take a peek in their lives.
  • Words that Shook the World
    The largest national public speaking competition ever conducted for high school students.