Blacksburg High School students place in national C-SPAN documentary competition

Posted: Apr 12, 2020 / 11:05 PM EDT / Updated: Apr 12, 2020 / 11:41 PM EDT

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WFXR) — Two Blacksburg High School students have been recognized by C-SPAN for placing in a national documentary competition.

Mia and Ava Lazar’s documentary “Burning the Bridge: The Story of the Mountain Valley Pipeline” won second prize in C-SPAN’s Eastern Division of the StudentCam competition.

“What make us most excited is sharing it with the public, so our favorite part is when we can see how many people have looked at it, how many people have been able to watch and take something away from our videos,” said Ava Lazar.

The Lazar sisters, a sophomore and senior at Blacksburg High, have been submitting documentaries to the competition for years and say the feeling of accomplishment in creating a documentary never gets old.

“C-SPAN offers the opportuntiy for young voices to be heard, broadcast, nationally on television, and it feels like you can make a difference,” said Mia Lazar. “I always end up learning a whole lot.”

With the second place also comes a $1,500 cash prize. Unfortunately, this will be the last documentary submitted by the Lazar sisters. Mia, now a senior, will be going off the college next year.

Mia did say that these documentary projects have spurred her interest in perhaps making a career after this. She said the research aspect of making a documentary has always fascinated her and that she might be declaring a major in history.

“Burning the Bridge: The Story of the Mountain Valley Pipeline” will aired on C-SPAN at 6:50 a.m. ET and also throughout the day on April 12.