With a camera in hand and a little inspiration from a father who works in the entertainment business, a Simi Valley High School student and budding filmmaker recently took home the grand prize in a statewide competition about the environment.

Taylor Johnson, a 17-year-old senior, entered his video into the competition at the urging of Artine Derian, his video class teacher. The video features a superhero-type character called Captain Environmental Awareness Man.

The competition was sponsored by the LegiSchool Project, a civic education collaborative between Sacramento State University's Center for California Studies and the California Legislature. Students across the state were invited to submit a 60-second public service announcement video addressing an environmental concern of their choice.

Out of hundreds of students who entered the competition, Johnson's video stood out the most among the judges, winning him $100 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Sacramento for LegiSchool's Town Hall meeting in early December, where the video was showcased. The video was also shown on The California Channel, a cable channel focused on politics and public affairs.

Joshua Zerhusen and Jeremy Croft, two other students at Simi Valley High, were runners-up in the competition.

For his video, Johnson came up with the idea of a superhero fighting off a trash monster that pollutes a park where children play. Johnson gathered his sister, Hayley, and classmates Brian Fortin and James Foster to play the lead parts in the video he wrote, directed, filmed and edited all himself.

"I wanted to make something unique that they've never seen before," Johnson said. "And I tried hard from the beginning to make it look good but kind of campy, too."

Johnson's father, Greg Johnson, works on animation movies for Marvel Comics. He said while his son might have been inspired by his career, the video was completely his son's work.

"He's very talented in his own right. He often gives me ideas for my work without pay or credit, so it's very cool seeing him being honored and being treated like a celebrity now," Greg Johnson said.

Derian, the visual arts instructor at Simi High, said he's not surprised Johnson won the award.

"I believe Taylor's greatest asset is his ability to produce creative and original stories for his videos. No matter what project I ask the advanced students to complete, Taylor always ends up producing a show-stopper video," Derian said.

Johnson said he will major in film at Moorpark College after he graduates in June and eventually wants to attend The Los Angeles Film School. In the meantime, he has bragging rights since winning the award.

"What's cool is that now I can honestly say I'm an award-winning' filmmaker. I really like that title."