Communiqué
WOUB’s 2024- 25 “Our Ohio” High School Documentary Film Festival Winners Announced
< < Back toATHENS, OH – Avery Brooks from Alexander High School has been named the 1st place overall winner in WOUB’s 2024-25 Our Ohio High School Documentary Film Festival. Brooks produced a short documentary called Underfunding Our Future about how the ups and downs of funding in her school district has impacted the students and the community. Brooks’ film was one of 23 films from 32 filmmakers at Alexander, Nelsonville York, Gallia Academy and Southern Meigs high schools. Classes from each school worked with WOUB Public Media as part of the fifth year of the Our Ohio documentary film project.
The Our Ohio project challenges students to learn about and explore independent documentary film, Appalachian cultural identity, media literacy and multimedia storytelling. Throughout the course of the school year, the students worked with WOUB News Reporter Theo Peck-Suzuki and former WOUB Documentary Filmmaker Chris Flanery, as well as an Ohio University Associate Professor Brian Plow, to learn how to create documentary films.
“Each year the project brings us many different topics and styles, and we are pleased with how this year’s films were presented, and the variety of topics covered,” said WOUB General Manager Mark Brewer.
“Being able to tell your own story is powerful, but our region’s underserved communities struggle to find the resources to do that,” said Ohio University Media Arts and Studies Associate Professor Brian Plow. “The Our Ohio program is committed to supporting these communities and their young people as they find their voice and learn vital new skills.”
WOUB’s Learning Lab works with the teachers to identify resources and activities that align with educational standards to support the project. The Learning Lab also has professional-level camera equipment available for participating teachers to check out for their student to utilize during the course of the project.
“We are excited to provide students with industry standard equipment to use in their video production for those who are interested,” said WOUB Educational Services Manager Deborah Brewer. “We also provide simple audio and lighting tools to help improve projects if they prefer to shoot their films on their phones.”
To watch this year’s winners and all the films submitted visit: https://bit.ly/OurOhio2025
2024-25 WOUB Our Ohio High School Documentary Film Festival Winners
Best Overall:
1st Place: Underfunding Our Future, Avery Brooks, Alexander High School
2nd Place: Home is the Heart: An Interview, Lillian Paris, Nelsonville York High School
3rd Place: Tribute to the Gallia’s Water, Branson Eddy, Gallia Academy High School
Honorable Mentions:
Quilting in Appalachia, David Kemple, Southern Meigs High School
The Cell Phone Ban, Karah Allison and Kaylee Hudnall, Alexander High School
Shadow of the Mountain, Tristan More, Southern Meigs High School
The Impact of Rocky Boots, Grace Downey, Julia Smith, Addyson Sullivan, Nelsonville York High School
On Air The Heartbeat of Local Radio, Riley Williams, Alexander High School