The Next Generation Angels Awards, an annual program run by The Better Angels Society in partnership with National History Day, highlights the six winners of National History Day’s Individual Documentary Film competition. These students — three from middle school and three from high school — have created ten-minute historical documentaries in the style of a Ken Burns film. Sign up yourself and your classes to attend two events: the Student History Documentary Film Festival and the “Students Teach the Teachers” Copyright Presentation and Research Orientation. Sign up and learn more about both events by clicking here.

The student film festival is a free, online virtual “field trip.” The award winners present their films and discuss them with moderator Mike Mashon and an audience of students and teachers from across the nation. This year’s festival is on Wednesday, October 20, from 12 to 2 PM ET. The first hour (12-1 PM ET) is dedicated to the middle school filmmakers and the second hour (1-2 PM ET) to the high school filmmakers. You can sign up for just one hour of the film festival, a portion of an hour, or for the whole event. Filmmaker Ken Burns will introduce the event. Mike Mashon is the Head of the Moving Image Section at the Library of Congress. Students and teachers may submit questions through a moderated chat option. Teachers can attend the festival in 45-minute or hour-long portions to accommodate their class times. A recording of the discussion will be made available in shorter, shareable segments after the live event.

The “Students Teach the Teachers” Copyright Presentation and Research Orientation event offers a platform for this year’s winners to discuss the research process behind their films and provides an audience of teachers and educators with information about how they can use similar research and filmmaking as educational tools in their classrooms. This event consists of a Q&A hosted by NHD Deputy Director Kim Fortney. The event will take place from 7-8 PM ET on Tuesday, October 19. Teachers will be credited with a professional development opportunity certificate.