Lights, Camera, Heroes!

Journalism & Filmmaking WorkbookMY HERO

Are you inspired by someone who is making a difference?
Tell their story through film and share it with the world!

MY HERO invites student filmmakers and reporters to create short films celebrating heroism. Your subject could be a family member, a teacher, a community leader, a local activist, or anyone whose actions are making a positive difference in the world. You don’t need expensive equipment or filmmaking experience. All you need is a story worth telling and the creativity to bring it to life.

Thanks to support from the Scripps Family Impact Fund, we’ve created a workbook to help students and teachers get started. Written by award-winning educators Jonah Steinhart and Esther Wojcicki, The MY HERO Journalism & Filmmaking Workbook guides you step by step through researching, reporting, and producing a hero-themed film.

Click the link below to download your FREE digital copy.
Download a digital copy of the MY HERO: Journalism & Filmmaking Workbook:

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With support from the Scripps Family Impact Fund, we’ve created Reel Heroes: Student Films and Filmmakers, a Telly Award–winning 25-minute companion video to the workbook. Students watch films by young filmmakers and discover how they brought their heroes’ stories to life.

Reel Heroes: Student Films and Filmmakers
https://myhero.com/reel-heroes-student-films-and-filmmakers

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The WOJ Youth Reporter Award

Presented by celebrated journalist, educator, and author Esther Wojcicki, the WOJ Youth Reporter Award honors young filmmakers who use their voices and storytelling skills to spotlight people working for positive change.
The award is open to students from elementary school through college.

Esther Wojcicki, the subject of the 2026 documentary The Godmother of Silicon Valley, believes in giving young people the freedom and confidence to take charge of their own learning. Her approach champions creativity, independence, and critical thinking.

Esther taught journalism and English at Palo Alto High School for 36 years. There she founded the award-winning Media Arts Program and grew it from about 20 students into one of the largest scholastic journalism programs in the nation. She championed the creation of the school’s Media Arts Center (MAC), which opened in 2014 as the largest high school media arts building in the country. She was named California Teacher of the Year in 2002 and was a MacArthur Foundation Research Fellow.

In 2016, MY HERO honored Esther with its Global Educator Award for her contributions to education. She is the author of the bestselling book How to Raise Successful People and co-author of Moonshots in Education.

Through the WOJ Youth Reporter Award, Esther continues to inspire young people to uncover important stories, celebrate unsung heroes, and use media to make a difference.

media-arts-education-bannerExplore MY HERO Media Arts Resources