2016 Teen Video Challenge Winner – New York State and CSLP
Description of “Catch a Book” Winning Entry
A teen is shooting baskets in the yard, not making a single basket. Along comes his friend who knocks the basketball out of his hands. His friend takes the ball, and shoots a basket on the first try. The frustrated teen just can’t compete, so he goes to visit the Newstead Public Library located in his home town. The teen borrows several books and magazines with valuable information on basketball, soccer, tennis, football, and track and field. He walks out the front door of the library with a determined look on his face. With a book in hand and new found knowledge the teen attempts new sports. He runs past his friend on the track, makes a soccer goal on the first try, hits ball after ball on the tennis court, kicks a field goal, and sinks a basket, all while holding and reading a book! The teen excels at each sport, performing even better than his friend! He realizes that being good at a sport is not as important as being a good sport, so the teen takes the basketball from his friend and gives his friend a library book to share the “secret” of a book.
Description of “Get in the Game” Finalist
A teenaged boy is holding a book about Minecraft; the camera zooms onto the page. As the camera zooms out, he is playing Minecraft on his computer, using the skills that he learned from the book. The camera jumps to a room where another boy is studying a book about volleyball. He and his friends put his newly learned skills into action, playing volleyball in front of their local library. Another young man sits cross legged in a plush armchair, reading a hardcover book about poker. He quickly employs his new skills to outwit some of his friends at the card table. A different boy sits quietly among the library stacks studying the strategy and the ideology of football. He plays a game of football with his friends outside the library. Finally, after closely reading a chess player’s manual, a young boy bests his friend in a match proving that the path to successful skill building can be encountered in the library.
Description of “Book Competition” Finalist
A young girl comes across a sign at her local library that reads, “Win $100 for READING 20 Books.” She sits down with a large stack of books and begins her journey to the $100. She settles down to read “The Hunger Games”. However, she quickly becomes bored. Katniss Everdeen appears, enraged that the girl finds her story boring. The girl is then approached by an equally perturbed Harry Potter who shows off the scar on his forehead and cast a spell on the girl. Katniss draws her bow, with a book in the place of an arrow, threatening the girl. The girl stands up, pushing Harry and Katniss aside. She sits back down, and Harry grabs her shoulder, saying that she hasn’t even read his book. He shows her his scar, again, and hands her a stack of his books. Katniss then hands her a stack of her books, and the two characters disappear. The girl starts reading a book. The camera jumps to another room, where we see Harry reading “Mockingjay” and Katniss reading “Harry Potter”. Harry concedes that The Hunger Games aren’t that bad.