FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Music Publishers Association (MPA) and the National Association for Music Education (formerly MENC) are pleased to announce the winners of the Second Annual Copyright Awareness Scholarship Competition. Created in 2010, the annual scholarship program aims to get students excited about intellectual property and encourages those students to educate their peers on the value of copyright.
High school and college students were asked to create presentations about what copyright is and why it’s important. Judges found the responses both touching and hopeful. With hundreds of applications coming from all across the country, students stood up to the challenge to tell us why copyright counts.
Grand prize winner Jazmin Diaz, a recent graduate of Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, Texas, won over the judges with her video Keep a Conscience. Her heartfelt short depicts the real consequences of copyright infringement against working artists. Jazmin is not new to film; a project in which she took part won the Jury Award for the Texas High School Video Competition at SXSW. Jazmin will enter the Radio, Television, and Film program at the University of Texas at Austin this fall.
Second-prize winner Jared Bohlken is a 2011 graduate of Hastings High School in Hastings, Minnesota. Jared’s video, The Idea Bandit, was a clever take on Intellectual Property as a physical concept and what happens when someone tries to take it. In the fall Jared will attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois; like Jazmin, he will also be studying Radio, Television and Film.
Third-prize winner Marcus Robertson is pursuing a bachelor of music in performance at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. In The Copyright Guru, the viewer is taken on a journey in which we learn the different works that can be copyrighted, how they can be protected, and why it is important for people to copyright their work.
The following students received honorable mention:
• Cameron Lewis of Jamestown Community College in Olean, New York for his video CopyRight
• Britney Walker-Merritte of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma for her video Respect What You Speak
• Alejandro Santistevan of Arrupe Jesuit High School in Denver, Colorado for his Copyright Rap
• Benjamin Ransom of Ballard High School in Seattle, Washington for his creative book On the Importance of Original Intent
The panel of judges included members of the MPA Board of Directors as well as employees of the National Association for Music Education.
Winning videos can be viewed on the MPA YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/MPAofUSA.
The Music Publishers Association and the National Association for Music Education would like to thank all those who participated in the 2011 competition.
About the Supporting Organizations
Founded in 1895, the Music Publishers Association is the oldest music trade organization in the United States, fostering communication among publishers, dealers, music educators, and all ultimate users of music. This non-profit association addresses itself to issues pertaining to every area of music publishing with an emphasis on the issues relevant to the publishers of print music for concert and educational purposes.
The National Association for Music Education, among the world’s largest arts education organizations, marked its centennial in 2007 as the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. Through membership of more than 75,000 active, retired, and pre-service music teachers, and with 60,000 honor students and supporters, MENC serves millions of students nationwide through activities at all teaching levels, from preschool to graduate school.
Since 1907, MENC has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. MENC’s activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National Standards for Arts Education. MENC is located at the National Center for Music Education in Reston, VA.