Hawaii public school students made an impressive showing at the 2012 Student Television Network Convention (STN) held in Dallas, Texas, on March 21, 2012 through March 24, 2012, bringing home a total of 23 awards.

STN is a nonprofit organization started in 1999 by a group of dedicated teachers who volunteered their time, energy, and vision. With hundreds of affiliate public and private schools, STN supports, promotes, and recognizes excellence in scholastic broadcasting, creative video and filmmaking, and media convergence.

In the highly coveted Sweet 16 Broadcast Journalism contest, each school team produced an entire broadcast, based on a one-word topic, in 16 hours. In the middle school division, Hawaii swept the competition with Maui Waena Intermediate School winning the first place award, Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School coming insecond place, and Waianae Intermediate School in third place. In the high school division, Waianae High School took second place and Kauai High School won third place.

Waianae High School also won an honorable mention award in the Sweet 16 Film contest for producing a short film in 16 hours based on a given title and a prop.

Hawaii schools took top honors in the following contests: Music Video, Spot Feature, Movie Trailer and Commercial.

Here’s the breakdown of awards by school:

Waianae High School:
1st place – Spot Feature
2nd place – Broadcast Newswriting
2nd place – Public Service Announcement
2nd place – Laptop Journalist
3rd place – Sixty Second Silent Film
Honorable Mention – Standup
2nd place – Sweet 16 Broadcast Journalism
Honorable Mention – Sweet 16 Film

Waianae Intermediate School:
1st place – Commercial
Honorable Mention – Spot Feature
Honorable Mention – Music Video
Honorable Mention – Anchoring
3rd place – Sweet 16 Broadcast Journalism

Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School:
1st place – Movie Trailer
2nd place – Sweet 16 Broadcast Journalism
2nd place – Spot Feature
3rd place – Music Video

Maui Waena Intermediate School:
1st place – Sweet 16 Broadcast Journalism
1st place – Spot Feature
Honorable Mention – Music Video

Moanalua High School:
1st place – Commercial
Honorable Mention – Commentary

Kauai High School:
3rd place – Sweet 16 Broadcast Journalism

Over 1,900 students and teachers from middle and high schools across the nation attended the STN Convention. Students attended breakout sessions taught by industry professionals and visited exhibit booths with vendors who were knowledgeable and provided future contacts for many aspects of the industry. Professionals within the television news industry judged the onsite contests.