CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Mediacom and C-SPAN announce the start of this year’s annual student documentary competition, and encourage middle school and high school students to participate in the video documentary competition known as “StudentCam.”

Students are asked to create a short five- to seven-minute video documentary and submit it online between Nov. 1, 2016, and Jan. 20, 2017.

This year marks the 13th annual StudentCam competition, and a new topic is chosen each year to encourage students to work in teams or individually to enhance their understanding of U.S. government.

Students are asked to present their views on a topic that coincides with this year’s general election: “Your message to Washington: What is the most urgent issue for the new president and Congress to address in 2017?”

Cash prizes of up to $100,000 in total will be awarded to winning documentaries.

Winners will be announced in March 2017 and the top-rated videos will be televised on C-SPAN in April.

Complete competition details and entry forms are available on the C-SPAN StudentCam Web site http://www.studentcam.org/ .