2025 2nd Prize High School Central Division – “Kids First: Indiana’s Child Welfare System” by Leah Steup

12th Grade student Leah Steup from Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana won 2nd Prize in the High School Central division for her documentary, “Kids First: Indiana’s Child Welfare System.” As a 2nd Prize winner, Leah will receive $1,500 in prize money.

StudentCam is C-SPAN’s annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation. 2025 marked the 21st year of the competition and in this presidential inaugural year, we asked students to explore and analyze matters of personal, local or national importance by addressing the theme — “Your Message to the President: What issue is most important to you or your community?”

C-SPAN is funded by America’s cable and satellite television companies, who also support StudentCam. In Fort Wayne, C-SPAN is available locally through Comcast.

Press:

• Press Release: Fort Wayne Student Wins Prize in C-SPAN’s National Video Documentary Competition (Google Doc)
• Article: Fort Wayne student earns national recognition for documentary (WFFT Fox 55)
• Article: Arts Update: Homestead student earns documentary honor (The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)
• Article: Homestead HS senior wins 2nd place in national C-SPAN competition (ABC 21 ALIVE WPTA)
• Article: Fort Wayne student among two Hoosier winners in C-SPAN documentary contest (The Journal Gazette)
• Article: Homestead senior honored by C-SPAN for award-winning documentary (ABC 21 ALIVE WPTA)