Students, community members and state leaders filled Long Reach High School’s auditorium Tuesday to watch 16-year-old Owen Mayotte’s climate change documentary, which received an honorable mention in C-SPAN’s annual StudentCam competition.

Mayotte’s documentary was one of four created by Howard County Public School System students that were recognized by C-SPAN with honorable mentions in the competition. C-SPAN is a television network created in 1979 as a nonprofit public service.

Other Howard County students honored included:

Akshan Ranasinghe of Marriotts Ridge High School earned an honorable mention for “A Fair Chance,” about issues in education.

Shreya Sundaram, Avery Chang and Rafia Mohammed of Centennial High School earned an honorable mention for “Small Businesses: A Critical Component of a Strong Economy and a Tight-Knit Community.” Their adviser was David Riddler.

Lyra Su, Nandana Ratheesh and Helen Zhu of Centennial High School earned an honorable mention for “Drinking Water Quality: The Effect on Human Health and Education.” Their adviser was Corey O’Brien.

C-SPAN awarded $250 for each video that received an honorable mention.

C-SPAN’s Director of Education Relations Craig McAndrew said the competition received nearly 3,500 entries from across the nation, and only 150 were singled out for recognition.

Long Reach High government teacher Jody Zepp assigned each student in her class to create a documentary in October. Mayotte’s documentary was the only one to get recognized from his class of 29 students. Each year, only one or two students get recognized for their work, if at all, she said.

“They’re 15, 16 years old,” Zepp said. “To be experiencing something of that magnitude … is a huge thing.”

The goal of the competition, Pam McGorry, education program senior specialist with C-SPAN, said, is to get young people interested and involved in learning about prevalent issues that impact them, locally or nationally.

“They’re gathering all these different perspectives and then learning how to make an informed decision for themselves, whatever that decision may be,” McGorry said. “We want them to become knowledgeable and civically engaged.”

This year’s documentary prompt was: “Your Message to the President: What issue is most important to you or your community?” McGorry said contest entries are typically due on Jan. 20, which sometimes coincides with Inauguration Day.

Mayotte’s documentary, titled “Harnessing the Sun: Clean Energy of the Future,” asks the president to consider the impact of implementing solar energy in reducing climate change, an issue Mayotte said has been close to his heart for many years.

“Being able to work on this was amazing because it’s such an important issue that I feel like is growing,” Mayotte said. “It’s something that we’ve gotten to the point where we just can’t ignore.

McAndrew said the competition allows students to develop skills now that they will use later in their professional lives.

“Through in-depth research and interviews with an array of topical and technical experts, you have crafted impactful short stories that capture issues of wide public interest and importance,” McAndrew said in a news release.

In the competition, students are assessed on basic criteria such as length and content, as well as the quality and creativity of their documentary, McGorry said. Winners are determined by judges within C-SPAN.

This marks C-SPAN’s 21st year for the competition. According to a news release, the most popular topics addressed this year were:

Climate, Environment, and Land Use (11%)

K-12 Education Policies and the Cost of College (10%)

Health Care and Mental Health (10%)

Gun Violence, School Safety, and Firearm Policies (9%)

Inflation, Taxes, Government Spending, and the Economy (9%)

All 150 winning videos from this year can be viewed at StudentCam.org.

Have a news tip? Contact K. Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com or @KatMauser.