Press release:

The Digies is an annual digital media conference and festival run by the School Library Service, a program of the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership. The mission of The Digies is to strengthen the digital media continuum between Pre-K-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.

The in-person awards ceremony was canceled and an awards recognition video was created and posted to YouTube.

Emilee Williamson and Andrea Fetterly, Library Technologies’ Specialists, coordinate this conference. Fetterly shared that 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.”

Congratulations to these imaginative students! 

Audio

• Pre-K-3 1st Thomas Thering, Annalise Allen, Jade Rivera Rangel, Friendship Podcast, Geneseo CSD
• 7-9 1st Bennett Wallin, Lucy McGrain, Mitchell Baker, U.S, Citizenship: Our Rights, Our Responsibilities (Voting and Taxes), Avon CSD; 2nd Kristen Thompson, Blue Journey, Alexander CSD; 3rd
• Alexis Reamer, Amealia Kerr, Bridget Rehrberg, Olivia Wonsey, U.S. Citizenship: Our Rights, Our Responsibilities (Naturalization and Voting), Avon CSD
• 10-12 1st Gadge Savastano, Lefthandshake, Mount Morris CSD; 2nd Mina Stevens, What Was I Thinking, Pittsford CSD; 3rd Caroline Ruof, Minecraft Music Tech Project- Reason, Orchard Park CSD

Graphic Arts

• Pre-K - 3 1st Peter Boring, Double Exposure Self Portrait, Avon CSD; 2nd Cheyenne Claus, Double Exposure Photograph, Avon CSD; 3rd Caitlyn Lipome, Double Exposure Self Portrait, Avon CSD
• 4-6 1st Isabella Ehrman, Eye Art, Southwestern CSD; 2nd Tianna Norman, Creative Name Card, York CSD; 3rd Annalisa Krug, Pixel Parrot, Southwestern CSD
• 7-9 1st Fadwa Al Dulaimee, Two Faces, Rush-Henrietta CSD; 2nd Anna Holt, Nutella, Alexander CSD; 3rd Tori Jewell, Self Portrait, Rush-Henrietta CSD
• 10-12 1st Quinn Carletta, The Road to a Cleaner Future, Brockport CSD; 2nd Paige Conley, Sustained Investigation, York CSD; 3rd Cameron Anderson, Untitled, Brockport CSD

Interactive

• Pre-K - 3 1st Maylen Aguilar Gutierrez, All About Candy, Geneseo CSD 1st Karma Chidsey, Nora Church, John Ciulla, Cheyenne Claus, Scarlett Claus, Donovan DeCarlo, Casen Frey, Keaton Griffiths, Spencer Hayes, Preston Michael, Ezmae Pizarro, Ilah Rene, Wyatt Swafford, Kayden Taft, Noah Wheeler, African Animals, Avon CSD; 2nd Nolan Boyle, Ethan Chan, Cliff Clarry, Sophia Cowan, Carter Driscoll, Jesse Dumbleton, Mabel Freeman, Bobby Hoffmann, Cora Jackson, Theoren Kearse, Olivia Koncilja, Flynn McMahan, Khloe Price, Pierce Schmid, Brian Stanton, Willow Cruz-Schell, Ian Segovia, Habitats and the Animals That Live There, Avon CSD; 3rd Oliver Clark, Lucas Daniels, Damon Davin, Bianca Estabrooks, Jordan Fayiah, Jayda Fears, Ryker Greene, Olivia Jeffries, Emmalynn Johnson, Wesson Pedro, Adlin Schultheiss, Nora Sherman, Bradley Spencer, Caleb Webb, Lincoln Wheeler, Ariana Crawford, Habitats and the Animals Around the World, Avon CSD
• 4-6 1st Jack Spuhler, Inventor Room: Milton Hershey, Livonia CSD
• 1st Arianna Scalisi, Inventor Room; Milton Braille, Livonia CSD; 2nd
• Isabella Zygadlo, Inventor Room: Jacques Cousteau, Livonia CSD
• 7-9 1st Ben Knapp, Monke Homecoming, LeRoy CSD
• 10-12 1st Lillian Smith, Website, Rush-Henrietta CSD; 2nd Anastasia Fields, Website, Rush-Henrietta CSD 3rd Vicki Li, Website, Rush-Henrietta CSD

Video

• Pre-K - 3 1st QueenNira Bey, Nazir Bey, The Secret Room Virtual Tour, Monroe County Library System; 2nd Cameron Clark, Joey Backer III, Kaboom News, Avon CSD
• 4-6 1st Anna Shumaker, Charlotte Jaros, Brooke Kiley, Nomie and Niomi the Two Hungry Animals, Avon CSD; 2nd Mackenzie Rogers, The Lollipop, Southwestern CSD; 3rd
• Gavin Sterner, Stavros Kolokouris, Baylee Gilmore, Alien Abduction, Avon CSD
• 7-9 1st Gabby Agyingi, Asher Eden, The Plant Growing, Rush-Henrietta CSD; 2nd Zendage Zia, Greyson Phillips, Mason Stock, Change the Formality, Rush-Henrietta CSD; 2nd
• Ryan Zika, Double Crossed, Pembroke CSD; 3rd Ava Champion, Addison Colatoy, Brenna Krieger, Anna Leathersich, Out to Sea, Rush-Henrietta CSD; 3rd Halie Hassell, From a Future Congress Woman, LeRoy CSD
• 10-12 1st Andrei Campbell, Old World, GST BOCES- Wildwood Education Center; 2nd Mina Stevens, The Sea Girl Animation, Pittsford CSD; 3rd Jared Berger, The Diving Board, Pittsford CSD

Are you an imaginative student who is creative, and likes to be innovative by experimenting with new technology and art? Put your talents to work and create your best work for the 2022 Digies Digital Media Festival. The Digies is an annual digital media conference and festival run by the School Library Service, a program of the Genesee Valley BOCES. The mission of the Digies is to strengthen the digital media continuum between Pre-K-12 schools, higher education, and professional institutions.

This competition recognizes student potential in an annual festival format and draws student entries from throughout the region and the Upstate New York area. Submissions for this year’s annual contest are now being accepted. Students are encouraged to submittheir work that is completed from April 1, 2021, through the deadline of April 8, 2022. All entries must comply with the ethics and copyright guidelines of the festival. Entries can come from schools, public libraries, and arts councils in Western New York. The competition is divided into four genres; audio, graphic arts, interactive, and video. In each genre, submissions are judged per age category; grades PreK-3, 4-6, 7-9 and, 10-12. Interested in learning more? Visit digies.org for more information.

 The Digies Media Festival is made possible by the School Library System, Model Schools, and Media Library Services of Genesee Valley BOCES in collaboration with the librarians and technology coordinators of the
region.

The winner of the 2021 Digies grades 10-12 Graphic Arts category is Michelle Jefferson, from
Dansville CSD. Her artwork is titled Neon Lights.

Lyla Bynum from Le Roy Central School District is the First Place winner in The DIGIES' PreK-3 Audio category with her submission "Cats and Kittens."

Submitted photo and press release:

LE ROY -- The DIGIES is an annual digital media conference and festival run by the School Library Service, a program of the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership. 

This year’s festival awards event was held on May 16 at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester.

The mission of The DIGIES is to strengthen the digital media continuum between Pre-K-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 technologies’ specialists; and Brian Mayer, game librarian, coordinate this conference. Mayer noted how this year’s festival drew a variety of entries.

“We had another wonderful year with strong submissions from both the Genesee Valley Region and beyond," Mayer said. "Submissions continue to come in from both school and public libraries, with students not only sharing curricular projects but personal work as well."

Below is a listing of all the event categories, age groupings, award winners and their school districts.

Congratulations to these imaginative students!

AUDIO

PreK-3

1^st Place – Lyla Bynum -- "Cats and Kittens" – Le Roy Central School

Grades 4-6

1^st Place – Ben Knapp -- "The Pink Fluffy Unicorn’s Problem" – Le Roy Central School

2^nd Place – Sophie Beikirch -- "The New Old Book" – Livonia Central School

3^rd Place – Matthew Parry -- "Nintendo Designer" – Livonia Central School

Grades 7-9

1^st Place – Mina Stevens – "O’er Th’ Loch" – Pittsford Central School

2^nd Place – Trey Prevost, Kailyn Tresco, Amara Condidorio, Lola Forte, Hailey-Jay Michel, Alli Privatera, Angela Allen, Adele Feeley, Ashley Michel – "Las Excusas"  – Le Roy Central School

3^rd Place – Evie Babcock – "Quien Soy Yo" – Le Roy Central School

Grades 10-12

1^st Place – Peyton Martin – "Lost At Sea" – Mount Morris Central School

2^nd Place – Leslie Arneth, Katie Carmichael, Kassidy Steffenilla – "ASMR: An Episode of Knightly Knews" – Le Roy Central School

3^rd Place – Hailey Grasso, Alexis Pfendler – "Real Feminism Podcast" – Le Roy Central School

GRAPHIC ARTS

PreK-3

1^st Place – Reese Koukides – "Reflection of Fire" – Le Roy Central School

2^nd Place – Sean Kantorowicz – "Altered Photos" – Livonia Central School

3^rd Place – Broton Folts – "Best Part of Me" – Livonia Central School

Grades 4-6

1^st Place – Kayden Sweet – "Egyptian Pyramid" – Livonia Central School

2^nd Place – Paolo Quintana – "Altered Photos" – Livonia Central School

3^rd Place – Seaenna Ford – "The Chipmunk" – Livonia Central School

Grades 7-9

1^st Place – Victoria Feng – "Platonic Sculpture" – Rush-Henrietta Central School

2^nd Place – Nhu Tran – "Giraffe" – Rush-Henrietta Central School

3^rd Place – Mackenzie Pustulka – "Virtual Gallery" – Rush-Henrietta Central School

3^rd Place – Kaylen Petramalo – "Credo Stellae" (latin) (Believe in Stars) – Rush-Henrietta Central School

Grades 10-12

1^st Place – Nathan Coy – "Layne Staley" – Pavilion Central School

2^nd Place – Jayde Wilkin-Smith – "Grandparent’s View in Germany" – Livonia Central School

2^nd Place – Ella Sexton – "The Water View" – Livonia Central School

3^rd Place – Allana Knopp – "Teepee" – Holley Central School

INTERACTIVE MEDIA

PreK-3

1^st Place – Cora Weaver, Bailey Caton, Kylie Wilson, Leah Cashin – "It’s Time for a Change" – Le Roy Central School

2^nd Place – Peyton Bennett – "Crossing the Delaware" – Livonia Central School

Grades 4-6

1^st Place – Lily Sharp, Hannah White, Leah Whittel – "Jack and the Hairy Beanstalk" – Livonia Central School

2^nd  Place – Nadja Emmendorfer – "Greece" – Le Roy Central School

3^rd Place – Matthew Covert, Andrew Greene, Fernando Cacho – "Space: Our Galaxy, Universe and Beyond!" – Le Roy Central School

Grades 10-12

1^st Place – Casey Wurtz – "College Photo" – Pembroke Central School

2^nd Place – Faith DesRoches – "An Exploration of New Social Landscape" – Pembroke Central School

3^rd Place – Evan McCoy, Sam Heck – "Rent-a-Pet" – Livonia Central School

VIDEO

PreK-3

1^st Place – Pedro Segatto, Wyatt Sattora, Rivers Thomas, Mason Patterson, Ceci Prince, Mackenzie Partridge, Sainelys Diaz, Scott Ho, Jagger Lee, Mason Bowick, Trenton Konzel, Finley Weingaertner, Sandy Godinez – "Composite Shapes in Spring" – Geneseo Central School

2^nd Place – Chloe Richardson, Dylan Bogdon, Justin Ferguson, Kylee Wonsey, Noah Johnso – "Blooper Reel" – Livonia Central School

3^rd Place – Jane Fischer – "Fun with Animations!" – Livonia Central School

Grades 4-6

1^st Place – Helio Quintana, Carson Beardsley – "A Quick Trip" – Livonia Central School

2^nd Place – Leila Haines, Leona Savino, Anna Reilly, Lucas Savino – "Ridiculous Ocean" – Victor-Farmington Public Library

3^rd Place – Taila Cavalcante-Bezerra, Isabella Hennessy, Chloe Meys – "Viruses Going Around" – Livonia Central School

Grades 7-9

1^st Place – Mina Stevens – "The Monster in My Closet" – Pittsford Central School

2^nd Place – Amy Eck – "Clearly" – Le Roy Central School

3^rd Place – Jack Tonzi, Jake Marcello, Nate Yauchzee – "Bohemian Immigrant" – Le Roy Central School

Grades 10-12

1^st Place – Jacob French – "Dominos" – Geneseo Central School

2^nd Place – Alexis Verrall – "What You Don’t Know About ME" – Tonawanda Central School

3^rd Place – Marquise Bennett – "Ageism" – Pittsford Central School

About the School Library System

It is a program of the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, based in Le Roy. The Partnership operates as a Board of Cooperative Educational Services offering shared programs and services to 22 component school districts located in Genesee, Wyoming, Livingston and Steuben counties in New York State.