Get Schooled: Young Filmmakers Wanted

By Amber Lester Friday, March 12, 2010

Williamsburg and James City County high school seniors who fancy themselves the next Quentin Tarantino or Wes Anderson have a chance to use their moviemaking skills to win scholarship money.

High Street, the mixed-use development in Williamsburg, is sponsoring a scholarship contest that will award $2,500 to a high school senior whose movie best exemplifies the topic, “What does it mean to be an American to you?”

The entries, which must be no longer than three minutes, will be played for a panel of judges (including me!) and an audience at 7 p.m. on April 27 at the Movie Tavern in High Street. Students can only submit one entry per person.

Any high school senior in Williamsburg or James City County, including private and home-schooled students, can enter the contest. Videos must be submitted here by 11:59 p.m. on April 12. The top five finalists will be contacted and asked to provide an exact copy of the uploaded video on DVD.

The finalists will be chosen by visitors to the YouTube contest page. The three videos receiving the most votes, along with two chosen by an independent third party, will be chosen as finalists. Voters can only vote one time per video.

The judges will score the videos based on material organization, originality, persuasiveness, video production and adherence to contest rules. The judges are Michelle DeWitt, economic development director of Williamsburg; Jim Golden, vice president for strategic initiatives at William and Mary; Steve Vaughan, reporter at The Virginia Gazette; Brien Craft, of the Wal-Mart Distribution Center; and yours truly.

The first place winner will receive a $2,500 scholarship; second place will receive a $1,250 scholarship; third place will receive a $500 scholarship; and an honorable mention winner will receive a $125 scholarship. The prize money will be given in the form of a check made out to the college of the recipients’ choice.

Here’s the fine print: Contestants must start the video by appearing on-camera and stating their first and last names, their age at the time of production, their grade level and the school they attend. High Street will have the right, in perpetuity, to edit, publish or otherwise duplicate entries without payment to the creator. The videos must address the topic and if any quotations or copyrighted material is used, it must be identified properly or the entrant could be disqualified.

For more information about the contest, click here or contact Jay Stecher at (757) 362-4400 or jay@stechermarketing.com.

Irish Storyteller to visit Stonehouse
Famed Irish storyteller Batt Burns will make a stop by Stonehouse Elementary School today before traveling to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. for St. Patrick’s Day.

Burns is known for his telling of ghost stories, adventure tales, heroic legends and witty jokes, all learned from his grandfather when he was growing up in County Kerry. He’s a former elementary school principal in the Irish educational system, and has authored school textbooks about storytelling. He retired from teaching in 1994 and since then, has taught storytelling at numerous colleges, including Harvard and Northwestern.

Stonehouse students will enjoy his presentation in assemblies at 9:35 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

Summer Programs for Kids with Disabilities
The Parent Educator Resource Center will host a program to get the word out about summer camps and programs catering to children with disabilities from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on March 16 at the Brittingham Midtown Community Center in Newport News.

Presenters will include Special Olympics, SMART-One and more. To register for the program, contact Ruthann Newton at 591-4527.