January brings along a new year, the usual wave of Oscar hopefuls and a chance for aspiring student filmmakers to win some awards of their own.

Campus MovieFest is the brainchild of four former Emory University students, including co-founder David Roemer, that came to life in 2001.

“Ever since, I’ve had the privilege of helping to grow Campus MovieFest around the world,” Roemer said.

And it has done just that. This year, more than 50,000 students will participate in 50 Campus MovieFest events all over the world. Though the festival continues to grow, the experience remains student-oriented at all levels.

“Because we started the event as students, and it continues to be customized by students at each school, we’re always focused on providing the best possible experiences,” Roemer said.

The explosive popularity of Campus MovieFest can be attributed to its accessibility. Campus MovieFest provides filmmakers with the latest Apple laptops complete with Final Cut Studio and iMovie ’08, as well as digital video camcorders and video-enabled 3G phones from AT&T to write, shoot and edit their films within a week.

“Anyone who has an idea can make that into a short film without having to worry about getting a camera or a computer, since that’s provided for you,” said Weston Ver Steeg, a recent University graduate and former Campus MovieFest judge.

But a background in filmmaking is not required.

“Another great thing about Campus MovieFest is that it allows people who may have an interest in film but don’t study it or have the means or equipment to try their hand at it. Having a background may be beneficial for certain aspects, but if there is a good story and it’s told well, anyone has a chance,” Ver Steeg said.

The festival emphasizes using creativity and teamwork to bring a story to life.

“You need to have an interesting, unique and entertaining idea/concept,” Ver Steeg said. “Secondly, execution of that idea or concept. Whether it’s comedy, drama, documentary or whatever, it needs to be well thought out and executed well.”

The story and effect of the film are the key judging criteria, followed by technical and editing skills, Roemer said.

Students submit their films for judging after the week-long work period. From there, a panel chooses the top films to be publicly screened at the Classic Center. Participants don’t know ahead of time if their films will be selected for screening.

After the screening, the winners are announced, and various prizes are awarded. Some will also move on to the regional competition in Atlanta.

Sometimes the films made in the competition even find paths to larger media outlets. MTV featured “The Hillz Have Eyes,” a spoof of MTV’s “The Hills,” on a show about parodies of the popular series. The film was created by How About Pizza? Productions, a University team from last year’s competition led by seniors Sarah Colombo and Allison Weiss.

The ultimate goal of Campus MovieFest is to give students an opportunity to tell their stories and explore film as a medium for doing that.

“[Film] appeals to the visual as well as the auditory senses,” Ver Steeg said.

“It can build and tell the story with pictures, sound or both. I think film is a great story-telling medium in that a story is told, but it can be interpreted differently by each viewer. Film allows for a variety of storytelling techniques to be utilized.”

Teams can register for Campus MovieFest until Tuesday at campusmoviefest.com.