Where technology and art collide: Students' work recognized in digital media festival

Avon students came away from the 2022 Digies with a veritable boatload of awards and recognitions in a variety of different competition categories.

The Digies is an annual digital media festival and competition run by Genesee Valley BOCES’s School Library Service. The mission of The Digies is to strengthen the digital media continuum between pre-k through 12 schools, higher education and professional institutions.

The Digies recognizes student potential in an annual festival format and draws student entries from throughout the region and the Upstate New York area.

Emilee Williamson and Andrea Fetterly, library technology specialists with Genesee Valley BOCES, coordinate the Digies. According to Fetterly, this year’s festival drew a record number of entries.

“Creativity is intelligence having fun,” Fetterly said. “We are excited to celebrate the amazing creativity and skill demonstrated by the participants in this year's Digies festival.”

Nicole Rowley, an art teacher in the Avon Elementary School, had students submit projects and earn awards in the video and graphic arts categories.

For submissions in the graphic arts category, Rowley’s students started out by studying portraiture in art history. Then, using Snapseed, a photo-editing app on their Chromebooks, Rowley’s students took a photo of themselves and blended it with a second photograph they felt represented them in some way.

For their video submissions, Rowley’s fourth graders started brainstorming ideas for a stop-motion project earlier this year and then created story boards to help them visualize a finished product.

“They created their own storyboard, built the set and characters and filmed the animations. The whole process took several months,” said Rowley. “ At one point their work was accidentally deleted and they had to start the animation portions over. The students had a good attitude about this and showed great perseverance when filming the second time. It was a good learning experience and well worth the effort. An award is the cherry on top!”

Other Avon students submitted projects in the interactive and audio categories.

To view the full list of Digies winners, click here.

Projects by Avon students to be recognized with awards in the 2022 Digies are listed below:

Audio: Grades seven through nine

• First place: "U.S. Citizenship: Our Rights, Our Responsibilities (Voting and Taxes)" by Bennett W., Lucy M. and Mitchell B.

Link: https://youtu.be/z2oXbYGqISk?t=214

• Third place: “U.S. Citizenship: Our Rights, Our Responsibilities (Naturalization and Voting)” by Alexis R., Amealia K, Bridget R. and Olivia W.

Link: https://youtu.be/z2oXbYGqISk?t=189

Graphic Arts: Grades pre-kindergarten through three

• First place: “Double Exposure Self Portrait” by Peter B.

• Second place: “Double Exposure Self Portrait” by Cheyenne C.

• Third place: “Double Exposure Self Portrait” by Caitlyn L.

Interactive: Grades pre-kindergarten through three

• First place (tied): “African Animals” by Karma C., Nora C., John C., Cheyenne C., Scarlett C., Donovan D., Casen F., Keaton G., Spencer H., Preston M., Ezmae P., Ilah R., Wyatt S., Kayden T. and Noah W.

• Second place: “Habitats and the Animals That Live There” by Nolan B., Ethan C., Cliff C., Sophia C., Carter D., Jesse D., Mabel F., Bobby H., Cora J., Theoren K., Olivia K., Flynn M., Khloe P., Pierce S., Brian S., Willow S. and Ian S.

• Third place: “Habitats and the Animals Around the World” by Oliver C., Lucas D., Damon D., Bianca E., Jordan F., Jayda F., Ryker G., Olivia J., Emmalynn J., Wesson P., Adlin S., Nora S., Bradley S., Caleb W., Lincoln W. and Ariana C.

Video: Grades pre-kindergarten through three