The on-air announcement of his victory in a political documentary competition sent the 14-year-old's hands to his mouth and opened his eyes wide.

The burst of excitement culminated months of self-propelled effort by a C-SPAN-watching, robot-building eighth-grader who tends to speak in polished paragraphs.

"I believe President Kennedy once said that ignorance is the demise of democracy," Carl explained. "That's really true; we need people to be informed in order for our government to go in the right direction. People know what they want, but they are very unsure about how to get there."

In his documentary, Carl's carefully timed and structured narration threads through C-SPAN footage from Congress and slow pans of historical pictures to tell a centuries-old story of political maneuvers.

His effort won the $5,000 grand prize in C-SPAN'sStudentCam contest. Students from grades six to 12 entered 1,069 films on about 50 topics this year. The documentaries by Carl and other winners will air on C-SPAN in coming weeks, with his debuting April 27.

It took Carl eight months to plan, film and edit an eight minute video centered on the political compromises that landed the young nation's capital in Washington and defined the Constitution.

He argues that a lack of cooperation among political parties left District of Columbia residents without proper government representation.

His topic became more clear as Republicans grew stronger and won gains in last year's election, splitting control of the government with Democrats. By the time judges watched the film, "compromise" was a particularly relevant buzz word.

The documentary is a result of Carl's thirst for knowledge and capacity for deep thought, his parents said.

"I think he was born that way. He has a drive to learn, that's one thing that's for sure," said his father, Dan Colglazier. "This documentary stuff - I don't know how to do it, my wife doesn't know how to do it."

That learning style has suited Carl well. He and his three siblings are schooled at home by their parents. He reads newspapers and rounds out his current events diet onC-SPAN.

The more fluid structure of home school allows Carl to put extra effort into extended projects and to learn at his own somewhat blistering pace, his parents said. The family of six is often together. His mother, Leslie Jean Colglazier, does much of the teaching, while his father, an IBM employee, often works from home.

Carl followed his whims during production, allowing the documentary to morph from a parallel history of Washington and the Constitution to an exploration of compromise throughout the country's history.

He made calls through a network of political experts and found a professor from George Washington University to help guide viewers through archaic political history. A family trip to Washington was a chance to shoot on-location footage and an interview.

The end result impressed judges and producers.

"They noted the sophistication, his familiarity with how to use technology in not only editing and shooting, but the use of graphics and different editing techniques," said Adrienne Hoar, an education communication specialist for C-SPAN. "StudentCam asks middle and high school students to ... really learn something about the topic and come to a conclusion for themselves."

Carl said his extended glimpse into the workings of government, and the people in charge, has left him inspired to get involved.

"It's important for us, in little terms, to write our senators, write our representatives, keep them accountable," he said. "It seems that lately, Washington has had an attitude of 'We're above the people.' It needs to have a bit more of a servant's attitude, in my opinion."