Documentary Film Shorts Competition

In June 2012, NC Campus Compact launched the inaugural Documentary Film Shorts Competition. The competition, open to undergraduate and graduate students across North Carolina, asks filmmakers to depict how their campus educates civically-engaged students and strengthens the community. A distinguished panel of judges screens entries and selects a grand prize winner. They also select up to three finalist entries who compete for the People's Pick during the annual  CSNAP student conference.  

On November 3, 2012, the inaugural winner, Sean Dolan, an Elon University senior, was announced and the conference participants selected, by secret ballot, the People's Pick winner. Dolan's documentary short, “Hear For Me” tells the story of an Elon student whose experience learning American Sign Language with an Elon professor led him to connect with and advocate for the deaf community. The competition judges awarded Dolan’s film the top spot among 10 entries submitted, praising Dolan’s technical craft and “compelling” storytelling. Dolan received a $1000 prize for his work.  

In January 2013, “Hear For Me,” was screened as part of the 2013 DocuTime Film Festival. Now in it’s eleventh year, the festival was held at UNC Wilmington on Saturday, January 26th. Paula Haller, creator of the DocuTime Festival, was one of the judges who selected Dolan’s film from among 10 entries submitted. After viewing Dolan’s film for the Campus Compact competition, Haller wanted to include it in DocuTime. At the festival, Dolan introduced his film to the audience.

See the 2012 entries below.  

2012 Judges

Matthew Barr, MFA
 Professor of Media Studies, UNC Greensboro
 

Paula Lee Haller
Documentary Film Producer

Read their bios here.