2011 Jeff Rudkin

In 1995, Jeff Rudkin began the B-TV program at Lora Batchelor Middle School in Bloomington, Indiana to give middle school students the opportunity to use technology to produce video and other media related projects. The program began with 30 students and has grown to around 300 members each school year. In the spring of 2000, his students set a goal of winning at both the state and national level in video production ­ and achieved it! Since that time students in the B-TV program have produced a large number of state, national, and international award winning videos. B-TV students have been participating at ISFF Hollywood since 2004 and have had one or more winning video each year. They have also had winning projects at the C-SPAN Student Cam, the Newport Beach Youth Showcase, the Westport Youth Film Festival, the Windsong Student Film Festival, Kids First Film Festival, the Apple Moviefest, the Telly Awards, the Hometown Video Awards, and several more. They also have a large number of winning projects in the AECT International Student Media Festival and the Philo T. Farnsworth Video Awards. Students have traveled to Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Nashville, Louisville, and Chicago where their work has been featured. The group was honored by the National School Board Association in 2002 and again in 2007. They have also been honored by the Indiana State Legislature (twice), and have been featured in USA Today, on three Indianapolis news stations, the Milken Foundation Connections publication, and the Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge web-site.

B-TV students have produced three full length movies, written and published a nearly 300 page book on World War II, and produced a six part, nine hour documentary mini-series on World War II. In 2005 and again in 2010, Mr. Rudkin and his students received official press accreditation to cover 60^th and 65^th Anniversary Ceremonies of the Liberation of Auschwitz in Poland. This past summer, Mr. Rudkin took a crew of middle school students to shoot documentaries in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Fiji. Next summer a crew will travel to England, Ireland, and France. Mr. Rudkin was named an Armstrong Educator in 2005 and a Milken Family Foundation National Educator in 2007.