POWELL, Ohio — Competition for C-SPAN's 20th annual StudentCam was tough. Thousands of students from 42 states participated. They took on tough topics while showcasing their video-making skills, and one of the prize winners is from Ohio. 

What You Need To Know

  • Ben Kurian from Powell, Ohio wins 2nd place in the 2024 C-SPAN StudentCam middle school division and ‘fan favorite’

  • He covered ‘career exploration’ in his winning video submission

  • Kurian shot and edited the entire video, even making the music for it

  • Kurian won $1,500 from the judged competition, and an additional $500 from winning 'fan favorite'

Thirteen-year-old Ben Kurian plays piano and chess, oh, and he also placed in C-SPAN’s Nationwide StudentCam Competition two years straight.

Kurian's video won first place in the middle school division last year, and this year, his video won second and 'fan favorite.'

"I thought I had a decent chance to make it a pretty good video,” Kurian said.

He picked career exploration as his topic for the video.

"Twenty-five percent of 15-year-olds could not name what job they wanted to have at 30,” Kurian said. “It creates something called the career exposure gap, and that, that's something that we really don't want to see in our youth. It's really important that we know what jobs are out there and what we are capable of."

Kurian shot and edited the entire video, even making the music. 

“I got the opportunity to compose my own piece and soundtrack for this documentary,” he said.

In his video, it poses the question 'Who do I want to be?'

If Kurian had to answer that, he said, “personally, I want to go into the medical field, a psychiatrist maybe because I think their service is really much needed in our community."

As for his future in video editing, he plans to continue making informational videos. 

But until then, he'll continue entering the StudentCam competition, hoping for more wins.

Kurian won $1,500 from the judged competition, and an additional $500 from winning 'fan favorite'. He said he plans on saving his winnings for college. 

To watch Kurian's full documentary, go here.

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