Whitman Student Awards & Honors

Whitman Videos Win Multiple Awards

Videos produced by Whitman Video Production students won multiple awards at The 2014 Middle School Media Festival held at The Bush School onMay, 9th, 2014. Emma Inge & Anna Schuetze’s “Compost PSA” won an Audience Award and a Teacher’s Choice Award. Isabella Warshaw’s “The Hat Thief “won an Audience Award Cum Laude and a Teacher’s Choice Award. Olivia Johnson  & Kacy Way’s “Nightmare” won an Audience Award. Jack Huntington & Cooper Chandler’s “Sleepless” won an Audience Award Cum Laude. And Veronica Redpath & Isabella Warshaw’s “Forgotten” won a Teacher’s Choice Award.

Whitman Students Win 1st Place in Video Contest

Whitman 8th graders Sydney Janeway and Maia Purdy won 1st place in the middle school division of a state-wide video contest, “Safe in the Sound“, sponsored by the American Red Cross. Focusing on disaster preparedness, the students’ winning video brought an award of $500 for the school.

Whitman Animation Wins Honors | 2012

Sonja Ferkingstad’s animated short, “Mr. Muffin“, won Honorable Mention at Fresh Film Northwest 2012. Part of the 39th Annual NorthwestFilmmakers’ Contest held in Portland, Oregon, Fresh Film NW is a juried festival of work created by 13 to 19 year-olds living in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Whitman Students Excel in King County Library Contest

Three of the top five book trailers chosen as finalists in the King County Library’s “Read. Film. Win 2012” contest were produced by Whitman 7th grade video production students. The videos were screened at a red carpet event in Issaquah on August 18th. The award for Winning BookTrailer (Trophy and $100 Best Buy gift card), was presented to Whitman7th graders Jesse Romero, Adrianna Mitalas, and Alyssa Korth for their book trailer for “The Running Dream”, written by Wendelin Van Draanen.

Whitman Videos Receive Audience Awards | 2012

Whitman MS Student Videos received audience awards with “Static Waves” by Jaya Flanary & Shea Washburn, “Homework PSA” by Mitchell Ewbank & Spencer Gaffin, and “My Losing Season” book trailer by Garrett Harris & James Beckett were voted Audience Awards at the Second Annual Middle School Media Fest, held at Seattle Country Day School on May 18th 2012. Ten Whitman videos in all were invited to screen at the festival.

Short Film Named Official Selection in the Future Wave Shorts Program

The “Unorthodox“, a short film by Whitman 8th grader DJMcCoy, has been named an official selection in the Future Wave Shorts program of the 38th Seattle International Film Festival (May 17– June10) to be shown on May 28, 2012. The Future Wave Shorts is a well-attended program during the Festival that highlights the best in youth films from around the world and will be held as a part of SIFF Shorts FestWeekend. The Seattle International Film Festival is the largest and most well-attended film festival in the United States with150,000 attendees expected in 2012. SIFF screens a wide selection of the best new international features and documentaries over the 25-day festival, presenting more than 400 films from over 60 countries. With extensive local, national and international media coverage, the Festival has emerged as one of the country’s most accessible and highly publicized film events.

Whitman Book Trailers now in Seattle Public Library’s Book Catalogue

Thanks to the Teen Librarian at SPL’s Greenwood Branch, anyone looking online for a particular book to read can now scroll down to videos and watch a book trailer produced by 7th and 8th grade Whitman Video Production students. Videos are linked to the following books: Girl Stolen, Bloody Jack, The Million Dollar Shot, Something Girl, My Losing Season, Elephant Run, Gone, Thirteen Reasons Why, A Mango ShapedSpace, If I Stay, When You Reach Me.

Walk in the Park Wins at Regional Festival

“Walk in the Park“, produced by Whitman 8th graders Mara Hollenback and Stephanie Shao, is among the winners at the 35th Annual Young People’s Film & Video Festival. The animated video about two shoes falling in love was selected from over 300 entries. The annual festival is an opportunity for young Northwest film and video makers living inAlaska,Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and Washington to have their work juried by professional media artists and presented to the public. This year’s festival will be held on Saturday, November 19th, 1 PM at Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland, Oregon. A sampling of this year’s Teen Division entries can be seen online startingNovember 1 at Vimeo.com.

Whitman Big in Festival Bow | 2011

Seven videos by Whitman filmmakers have been selected to screen at the1st Annual Middle School Media Fest, sponsored by Seattle Country DaySchool. The Media Fest will run from 1:15PM – 4:15PM on Friday, May 13, 2011 and feature media from nine Seattle-area middle schools. Congratulations to filmmakers Daniel Merz, Simon Gibson-Penrose, Lewis Gregerson-Spencer, Mara Hollenback, Stephanie Shao, Zach Greenand Xavier Obezo.

Whitman Videos Win Awards | 2011

Four works by Whitman Video Production students will receive certificates for Outstanding Video Production at the 2011 Images of Youth Film Festival on Thursday, April 14th at 7:00 p.m. at theYoungstown Cultural Arts Center. “Big Blue Ball” by Daniel Merz & Simon Gibson-Penrose, “Love is not just a walk in the park” by Mara Hollenback & Stephanie Shao, “Anti-Smoking PSA” by Mara Hollenback and Stephanie Shao, and “Smell the Roses” by Nathaniel Solum and Brad Tucker (produced as 8th graders last spring)are among the videos to be honored at the festival.

Students Produce PSAs for InvestED

Zach Green and Max Parsons produced two Public Service Announcements for InvestED, a Seattle-based organization that provides financial assistance to students in need at secondary schools throughoutWashington State. The 8th grade video production students worked with InvestED’s Public Relations Coordinator, shooting and editing the PSAs for the organization’s March, 2011 fundraising event.

Whitman Videos Win Regional Awards | 2010

Hunter Smith & Giordan Bonano’s “Anti-Smoking PSA“, and Bradley Tucker & Nathanial Solum’s “Smell the Roses” have been selected to screen at the 34th Annual Young People’s Film & VideoFestival on November 7th, 2010 at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium in Portland, Oregon.

The festival is an annual opportunity for young Northwest film and video makers living in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and Washington to have their work juried by professional media artists and presented to the public. The festival encourages young people to use film and video to creatively express personal concerns, explore important social issues, and share engaging stories about the world today as they see it.Criteria for selection include age/grade, originality, artistic merit, technical achievement, and conviction in investigation of subject matter. Only 16 of more than 150+ submissions received from Northwest students were selected as finalists.

Whitman Student Wins Honorable Mention in Statewide Video Contest

Sophia Peck’s video “Arts Education” won Honorable Mention in the 2010 Washington State Board of Education Student Video Contest. The contest challenged students to create a video answering the question, “Why is arts education important?” Sophia’s video was one of only two middle school videos to be recognized among entries from across the state of Washington.

Two Whitman Videos Open Sessions at Statewide Summit

Two videos by Whitman TV Production students were shown at the opening sessions of the 2010 Healthy Schools Summit, May 27 & 28 at the Seattle Airport Marriott in Seattle, WA. The videos are “Gaming PSA” by August Detering, and “Anti-Smoking PSA” by Hunter Smith & Giordan Bonano.

According to Marilyn Cohen, PhD, who is Director of the NW Center forExcellence in Media Literacy at the University of Washington and a presenter at the summit, it’s not the general practice to present student work for the entire group of participants of an opening session.For them to do this each day of their opening session is”terrific”. She also noted that the conference attracts a very large audience.

Whitman Students Make Big Splash at Local Film Festival | 2010

Three videos by Whitman students were featured at the 2010 Images ofYouth Video Festival. The student producers, Mani Bender and Alina Vilaysom for “Under the Knife“, August Detering for “Gaming PSA” and Hunter Smith & Giordan Bonano for “Anti-Smoking PSA“, were awarded with certificates for Outstanding Video Production. In addition, a team of teen judges selected Hunter & Giordan’s “Anti-Smoking PSA” to receive one of the six Special Peer Awards for Outstanding Achievement The festival, held on May 25th at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in Seattle, is a project of Action for Media Education