Students across Montgomery County and the Washington, D.C. area are earning national recognition in C-SPAN’s 2026 StudentCam documentary competition, bringing home multiple awards as part of a nationwide program tied to the 250th anniversary of the United States.
C-SPAN announced that students from Silver Spring, Germantown, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Potomac, Rockville, and Washington, D.C. were among this year’s winners, with the competition awarding a total of $100,000 in cash prizes to students and teachers.
Several local students earned second-place honors and $1,500 awards. Among them are Murilo dos Santos, Sami Youssef, and Zev Unger of Montgomery Blair High School for their documentary “The King’s Court,” which explores rule of law and public trust. Their film is scheduled to air on C-SPAN on April 15.
Vis Amirshahi of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Germantown also earned a second-place prize for “Operation Ajax: Defending ‘Democracy’ by Undermining the Will of the People,” focusing on the 1953 coup in Iran. His documentary will air April 13.
Another second-place-winning group from Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring, Ethan Chen, Rahm Isaacman, and Daniel Kim, was recognized for “The Right to Participate,” a documentary examining campaign finance. That film is scheduled to air April 5.
Additional students from Montgomery Blair High School and Eastern Middle School were awarded third-place prizes of $750 for documentaries covering topics such as healthcare, federal layoffs, civil rights, and political violence.
A large group of students from schools across Montgomery County and Washington, D.C. also received honorable mention awards and $250 prizes. These included students from Wheaton High School, Richard Montgomery High School, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Winston Churchill High School, Shady Grove Middle School, and multiple entries from Montgomery Blair High School and Eastern Middle School.
The competition challenged middle and high school students nationwide to explore the relevance of the Declaration of Independence, either by connecting it to a key historical moment or applying its principles to modern issues impacting their communities.
This year’s contest drew more than 1,800 documentary submissions from nearly 4,000 students across 38 states and Washington, D.C. Common themes explored by participants included equality, rights and freedoms, immigration, economic policy, and healthcare.
C-SPAN officials said the winning documentaries reflect a wide range of perspectives and demonstrate strong research, storytelling, and civic engagement.
The StudentCam competition, now in its 22nd year, has awarded more than $1.7 million in prizes since its launch in 2004.
