Ten award-winning short films by students and recent graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities will premiere on January 27 as part of the inaugural HBCU Week NOW Student Film Festival.

The films will stream on the HBCU Week NOW YouTube channel and were chosen from 36 submissions nationwide. Each winning project receives a $5,000 award and inclusion in the festival, produced by HBCU Week NOW, a public media partnership led by Maryland Public Television and Black Public Media, a Harlem-based national media arts nonprofit.

The selected shorts cover a range of genres, including documentary, experimental, animation and science fiction. They were created by students and recent graduates of Hampton University, Howard University and Spelman College. The films are For Me, By Me by Hannah Koonce (Spelman College ’28), From Rodeo to Polo: The First HBCU Polo Team by Kendi King (Spelman College ’25), The Hale Academy by Audra Davison (Spelman College ’22), Lady T by Nia Lambert (Spelman College ’25), One and Only by Zachary Ramseur (Hampton University ’28), Paralysis by Analysis by Jolene Carter (Howard University ’25), Shotgun by Quaran Ahmad (Howard University ’25), StarChild by Miya Scaggs (Spelman College ’25), What Is The Black Body? by Amira Barrett (Spelman College ’25) and Whispers of White by Kennedy Rome (Spelman College ’26).

The festival includes true stories of the first HBCU polo and lacrosse teams as well as fictional stories exploring environmental justice, artificial intelligence, femininity and the Black body. Black Public Media issued an open call for submissions in spring 2025. Eligible applicants were current HBCU students and recent graduates within the last three years. Enrollment in a film or media program was not required.

The festival will continue to expand HBCU Week NOW’s reach during Black History Month in February. The MPT documentary Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect will return to PBS stations nationwide, while two new short films Bayou Magic: The Alvin Jazz Institute from Louisiana Public Broadcasting and Wall of Sound by Alabama Public Broadcasting will premiere on the HBCU Week NOW YouTube channel. The initiative highlights Black excellence and provides emerging filmmakers from HBCUs a national platform.