2017 Film Contest Winners
COLLEGE & YOUNG ADULT
- Vermont History and Contemporary Issues
1st Place: We Are Vermont by Emily Potts and Dillon Walsh
2nd Place: We’ll See By Colleen Goodhue
3rd Place: Dead Meat: The Modern Relationship with Wild Animals by Peter Ackerman
- Vermont Arts & Culture
1st Place: Sweet Life: A VT “Luv” Story by Nathan Byrne
2nd Place: Fisherman’s Dream by Jay Austin
3rd Place: Dean Andrews by Ryan Scutt and Dean Andrews
- Personal Stories
1st Place: Muddy Footprints by Scarlett Clark
2nd Place: Safe Harbor by Tyler Bradley
3rd Place: Dichotomy by Aenea Thorne
HIGH SCHOOL
- Vermont History and Contemporary Issues
1st Place: Tension in the Air by Sevi Burget-Foster
2nd Place: The Search for the Missing Snow Bank by Sasha Cherkasov
3rd Place: Pure Horsepower by Ian Carpenter
- Vermont Arts & Culture
1st Place TIED: Transformation Vacation by Cady Ray
1st Place TIED: Cervena Trojkolka by Leah Kaliski
2nd Place: Bringing Creativity to Vermont by Amanda Adams
3rd Place: Lucian Avery: Vermont Blacksmith by Matthew Dailey, Randy Putvain, Jacob Edgerly, and Isaiah Gaskell
- Personal Stories
1st Place: A Tale of Two Travelers by Lyla Stettenheim and Daphnie Friedman
2nd Place: Looking Back At Me by Alex Escaja
3rd Place: Why Do I Make Films by Mason Mashtare
MIDDLE SCHOOL
- Vermont History and Contemporary Issues
1st Place: Marion Pritchard: Vermont’s Unsung Holocaust Hero by Jayme Billings
2nd Place: Thetford Hill – The Story of a Building by Kway Antwi, Jr., Beatrice Raiken, Aidan Cronan, Izaiah Kol
3rd Place: Homeschooling – Freedom in Education by Faith and Joy Holzhammer
- Personal Stories & Vermont Arts and Culture
1st Place: Vermontica by Soren Stettenheim and Gil Gordon
2nd Place: Bullying: Mosaic Movie by Elizabeth Spurr
3rd Place: Boy * Music * Love by Bradley McCabe
SPECIAL PRIZES
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARD: We Are Vermont by Emily Potts and Dillon Walsh
BEST ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM AWARD: Looking Back At Me by Alex Escaja
BEST ENVIRONMENTAL FILM: Regenerative Agriculture by Kira Boucher, Colette Anton and Honnee McManus
COMMUNITY STORY TELLING AWARD: Roll Like Thunder by Paul Snyder
JAMIE KANZLER EXPERIMENTAL FILM AWARD: How I Became Me by Lia Callahan
JUDGE’S PICK: 4 Days in Philly by Noah Detzer
JUDGE’S PICK: Acing It by Pearl McLeod
VERMONT MOVIE WORK-IN-PROGRESS AWARD: Hidden Blue Prints by Jeremy Lee Mackenzie
2016 Film Contest Winners
Contemporary Issues – HIGH SCHOOL
1st Place: Young and Queer Vermont by Alex Escaja, South Burlington High School
2nd Place: Lost Then Found: The Lost Boys of Sudan Encounter a Whole New World by Jayme Billings, Browns River Middle School
3rd Place: Distributing Days for Girls Feminine Hygiene kits in Rwanda, Africa by Aenea Mead, Harwood Union High School
Contemporary Issues – YOUNG ADULTS
1st Place: The Richer Whiter State: Seeing Race in Vermont Schools by Laurel & Alyssa Chen
2nd Place: Shame On Me by Andrew Woodman, Green Mountain College
3rd Place: Kelly Burke by Sophie Bodnar, CATV8
Vermont History – HIGH SCHOOL
1st Place: The Saint Albans Raid by Laurent Gagne, Bellows Free Academy
2nd Place (two winners): Vermont Skiing History: Turning Points by Sam Strohbehn, Hanover High School and Exploring the History of the Undersell Schoolhouse by Faryal Afsar, Mount Mansfield H.S.
3rd Place: Ticonderoga by Ethan Bray, Northwestern Technical Center
Vermont History – YOUNG ADULTS
1st Place: The Ghastliness by Chico Eastridge
2nd Place: Vermont 1918 by Shaynelle Francis
Personal Films – HIGH SCHOOL
1st Place: Peace or Prozac by Leah Kaliski, Thetford Academy
2nd Place: God Left Me With A Voice by Abi Murphy, Northwest Technical Center
3rd Place (2 winners): European Skull Mounts by Sam Scott, Middlebury Union High School/D.O. and A Letter I’ll Never Send to the Father Who Should Have Been There by Emily Williams, Hartford Area Career and Technology Center
Personal Films – YOUNG ADULTS
1st Place: Stolen by Rhea Hayes & Alex Schlater, Champlain College
2nd Place: Champlain College Climbs Smuggler’s Notch by Nathan Gobes, Champlain College
3rd Place: Sincerely, Vermont by James Abrams, Rochester Institute of Technology
Art and Culture – HIGH SCHOOL
1st Place: A Vermont Fairytale by Cady Ray & Eva Nichols, Poultry High School
2nd Place (2 winners): Backwoods: A Visual Poem by Ben Shumlin, The Putney School and Vermont is Adventure by Jayvian Poitras, Central Vermont Career Center
3rd Place: Getting Down To Business by Cameron Fennel & Nick Velau, Central Vermont Career Center
Art and Culture – YOUNG ADULTS
1st Place: Hunting & Fishing in Vermont by Martha Howe, Green Mountain College
2nd Place: Baseball in Vermont by Paul Snyder, Northwest Access TV
3rd Place: Good Sports with Jasper Goodman Featuring Norwich University Men’s Ice Hockey Program by Jay Austin, WDEV Radio Vermont
2015 Film Contest Winners
DOCUMENTARY (14-18)
1st Place: Blue Light: Living in a Technology Addicted World by Ben Shumlin
2nd Place: Home Away… New England Youth Theater by Aja Selbach-Broad
3rd Place: Education: A Student’s Story by Kaelan Sellback
DOCUMENTARY (18-25)
1st Place (tied): Brewers First by Christopher Williams and Brewtopia by Andrew Woodman & Russell Stone
2nd Place (tied): Vtrees by Jacob Covell, Devin Clark, Matt Woodward & Others and Marching With 400,000 by Erica Lygren, Katherine Christensen, Minahil Ghafoor, and Yenny Martin
FICTION (14-18)
1st Place & Judge’s Pick: Home by Danielle Hazleton
2nd Place (tied) & Judge’s Pick: Race to Vermont by Anna Steeley and The Scarecrow — A Haunting in Vermont by Martin VanBuren
3rd Place: Bigfoot: A Vermont Legend by Shaynelle Francis, Sebastian Durfree, Siobhan Crosier, Hawke Sleigh, Tiffany Martin, Imoni Davis, Meagan Hurley
FICTION (18-25)
1st Place: A Year Without a Colander by Lillian Schley, Emma Holliday, Ian Burnette, Eben Brown, Eric Downing, Laura Hoffman
ANIMATION (14-18)
1st Place (tied): How Vermonters Deal with the Cold Weather by Becky Kelecy and Herman & Rob by Sam Caswell
2nd Place (tied): An Interview with Sabra Field by Damien Murray
2nd Place (tied) & Judge’s Pick: My Movie 2 by Laura Borchers
3rd Place & Judge’s Pick: The Life of Max Judas by Max Judas
EXPERIMENTAL (14-18)
1st Place (tied): Welcome to Vermont by Alissa Keogh and Vermont Will Aid Your Vision by Oliver Hobbitzelle and Nick Nourse
2nd Place & Judge’s Pick: My Experience: What Vermont Means to Me by Rhiannon Mattison
2nd Place (tied): Angela’s Documentary by Angela Murphy
EXPERIMENTAL (18-25)
1st Place & Judge’s Pick: What Does VT Mean to Me? by Matthew Binginot
