C-SPAN awards Lake Charles student for documentary on coastal protection

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - C-SPAN visited the ACTS Theatre in Lake Charles Tuesday to celebrate Jacob Jewell for his second-prize-winning entry in C-SPAN’s annual student video documentary competition, StudentCam.

This year C-SPAN held its 19th annual StudentCam Competition.

“We had 3,000 students participate from 40 states, Washington, D.C., and Abu Dhabi,” said Robin Newton, C-SPAN Media Relations Specialist. “Students can submit documentaries in groups of up to three and middle and high school students are who we accept in the competition.”

C-SPAN received over 1,500 submissions for the contest.

Students were asked to submit videos about topics that were relevant to them.

“This year’s theme was if you were a new member of Congress, what would be the first issue you would tackle and why,” said Newton.

Jacob Jewell, a senior at College Street Vocational Center, won $1,500 for his documentary, “The Forgotten Coast.”

“The motivation behind my documentary was really just the fact that there wasn’t much coverage for our area after, you know, hurricanes Laura and Delta and I knew that Cameron with everything that they’ve gone through, they’ve really needed a voice,” said Jewell.

Britney Glaser teaches high school television production at College Street Vocational Center. They found out Jacob won second place a few months ago.

“But since then, he’s learned that this documentary has shown at multiple police during meetings, through different parishes in southern Louisiana,” said Glaser. “And that is actually being used to educate and inform and hopefully make a difference in our community.”

“If we want to continue to have Lake Charles in all this booming industry that not only affects our state, but our country and the world, then we need to protect our coastline because, without that, there’s nothing stopping another storm like Laura from doing much worse,” said Jewell.

You can watch “The Forgotten Coast” HERE.

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