Delco Middle Schooler Honored By C-SPAN For Documentary On Race

ASTON, PA — A Delaware County middle school student was recently honored by C-SPAN for her documentary on racial injustice.

C-SPAN Wednesday announced that Briona Morris, a student at Northley Middle School in Aston, is an honorable mention winner in C-SPAN’s national 2021 StudentCam competition.

Morris will receive $250 for the documentary "Are We Really Equal? Racial Injustices."

Morris's roughly 5-minute documentary is available to watch here.

The competition, now in its 17th year, invites all middle and high school students to enter by producing a short documentary.

C-SPAN, in cooperation with cable television partners, asked students to join the national conversation on the challenges our country is facing with the theme "Explore the issue you most want the president and new Congress to address in 2021."

Despite the unique challenges brought about by COVID-19 this year, more than 2,300 students across the country participated in the contest. C-SPAN received over 1,200 entries from 43 states and Washington, D.C.

The most popular topics addressed were:

• Health Care (14.9 percent)
• Environmental and Energy Policy (14.6 percent)
• Equal Rights and Equity (13.5 percent)
• Criminal Justice/Policing (7.6 percent)
• Education (7.5 percent)

"With the continual shift in the educational landscape, it is difficult to overstate just how challenging the pandemic has proven for schools across our nation," said Craig McAndrew, Director, C-SPAN Education Relations. "We are so impressed by the resilience and ingenuity of this year's prize-winning students who have delivered among the finest short films in the history of the StudentCam competition."

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

"Despite the educational challenges students faced this year, this local winner showed creativity, resourcefulness and a strong work ethic to create a documentary addressing an important issue on both the local and national level," said Caitlin Ganley, Senior Director for Government Affairs, Comcast. "Comcast continues to be committed to strengthening our communities through educational programs, including our longstanding partnership with C-SPAN and StudentCam."