On Friday, May 19, three students from West Scranton Intermediate School in Pennsylvania presented Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) with a $1,500 donation.US Gun Violence: A Complicated Puzzle, focused on gun violence prevention. It opens with the trio standing near the US Capitol Building.The Decision To ShareThe Newtown Bee last week, "we all just agreed that gun violence is the bigger issue."To view "US Gun Violence: A Complicated Puzzle," and all of the prize-winning documentaries in the 2017 StudentCam competition, visit studentcam.org.

Ava Decker, Camdyn Lewis, and Molly Dougherty won the money when they were named recently the grand prize winners in the Middle School category of C-SPAN's Classroom's StudentCam documentary competition.

The contest is an annual competition in which middle and high school students produce a documentary on a given theme. The 2017 theme was "Your Message To Washington: What is the most urgent issue for the new president and Congress to address in 2017?"

The girls won $3,000 as their prize. They decided to donate half of it to Sandy Hook Promise.

The three eighth grade students returned to SHP's new location on Church Hill Road on May 19. They had been in town in August 2016 to film one of the first segments for what became their award-winning work.

Their documentary,

"After research and interviews, we have become aware that prevention of gun violence has many aspects and is a complex issue," Camdyn says during the opening segment of the seven-minute video.

"However," Ava then says, "too many lives have been lost, and are at risk in the future if something doesn't change."

"When tragedy strikes, victims of gun violence tend to grab the attention of the national media," Molly says a few moments later. "Many people call for action to be taken in the aftermath of these painful events, but it begins to fade with time, resulting in no improvement upon the issue."

The video takes a look at six components of the issue: legislation, mental illness, the Second Amendment, and additional facts including race and socioeconomic influences.

They interviewed Nicole Hockley, co-founder and managing director of SHP, for the piece. They also spoke with Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr (D-Penn.), NRA Spokesperson Catherine Mortensen, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, Jr, and Jeffrey W. Swanson, PhD, a professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University.

Clips from C-SPAN were also used, including one of President Donald Trump proclaiming that "the bad guys are always going to get the guns."

The video is fair, hosting speakers on both side of the issue.

It closes with the trio of producers addressing the camera.

"Nicole Hockley stated that gun violence was nowhere on her radar until her son passed away," says Molly. "We think that many Americans think this way.

"We have learned that gun violence should be on everyone's radar," she continued. "It doesn't only affect one city, it continues to leave its mark on our country. So we believe that the most urgent issue the new president and Congress needs to address in 2017 should be the prevention of gun violence, because it's a complicated puzzle -

All three girls then speak together: "that needs to be solved."

Ava, Camdyn, and Molly launched their project last year by creating a list of topics that could be the focus of their documentary. Among those considerations were terrorism and women's equality, but "in the end," Molly told

The proposal was approved by August 2016, and the team visited Newtown shortly thereafter. The interview with Ms Hockley set the pace for many of the subsequent interviews the team did.

When the young filmmakers traveled to Newtown last week, they were escorted by their social studies teacher, Erin Mangan, and technology teacher, Dean Mulherin, both of whom offered guidance on the project. The group spent time visiting with Ms Hockley, and with SHP office manager Betsy Gaier, discussing SHP's continued efforts, as well as the video and its impact (the trio was also awarded The Lackawanna Bar Association Community Service Award for their effort).

"After interviewing Nicole, I think it just kind of opened a bunch of doors for us," Molly added. "I think these people were all willing to talk to us because they saw that we were serious about it, and how committed to the issue we are."

Ms Hockley praised the trio for their preparation, after being surprised by Camdyn's admission of being nervous for their sitdown.

"You were nervous? You didn't come across at all as nervous," she told Camdyn. "You came across as very professional, and prepared. You did great."

When asked whether she had any hesitation to help the team with its project, Ms Hockley said agreeing to the interview was an easy decision.

"First of all, the way that they approached was incredibly well thought-out," she said. "And second, what we do at Promise all the time is talking to students and working with students, so I rarely say 'No' to anything that comes from a student.

"For this video and what you wanted to accomplish with it," she said, turning to the students, "I definitely wanted to be able to lend our voice to help with that. I especially loved the fact that you were, even at that early stage, thinking about all sides."

Ms Mangan also praised the young students on their work.

"They were so poised, and they did so great throughout the whole thing," the social studies teacher said. "It was just amazing to see. It is a very heavy topic."

Editing guidance came from Mr Mulherin.

"We had no idea how to edit or put a video together," Camdyn said Friday, "or even how to work the cameras."

After spending time with their technology instructor, the girls were more proficient with the software and equipment. Those new skills were put to use immediately, when they were confronted with more than 60 minutes worth of interviews, and a maximum allowed documentary length of seven minutes.

"The editing was one of the hardest parts," Camdyn continued. "There was so much great footage and we had to break it down a lot."

Deadline for entry was January 20. Judges for the 2017 StudentCam competition received 2,903 films from more than 5,600 students, reportedly the most entries in the 13 years of the competition. Entries were received from 46 states, as well as Washington DC, England, Germany, Singapore, and Taiwan.

It was on March 8, through a televised announcement, that the West Scranton Intermediate School team learned of their win.

C-SPAN television network aired each of the second prize, first prize, and grand prize winning documentaries at 6:50 am EST during April, presenting a total of 150 prize-winning documentaries.

When the girls spoke of the decision to donate half of their prize to Sandy Hook Promise, they sounded as mature as the subject matter that won them the honor.

"We won $3,000, and that's a lot of money for three girls in eighth grade," Camdyn said. "We wanted to give some of our money to something we believe in.

"We believe in this organization," she said simply.