HUNTINGTON -- The 2008 Appalachian Film Festival held its award banquet Saturday night at the Frederick Hotel, and a Huntington native walked away with her first major award.

Meg Lansaw, a graduate of Huntington High School, earned second place for her screenplay, "11:11." She now lives in Wilmington, N.C., and said it was great to come back home and earn an Appy Award.

"This is the town where I found my love of film," Lansaw said. "This whole place cultivated my background as an artist."

The festival also helped bring recognition to many other independent filmmakers and writers, even if they didn't win an Appy. Chairperson Sam St. Clair said sometimes just being a part of the Appalachian Film Festival is victory enough.

"We're bringing the big screen to the little guy," St. Clair said. "To see their film played at the Keith-Albee on the big screen, it's something they've only seen on a monitor."

The festival, in its fifth year, has doubled just about every year, St. Clair said. And, he said, that's not bad considering it's a relatively small festival.

"When we started this five years ago, we were diving into something that hadn't been done before," he said. "It's a stream that is becoming a river."

For more information on the Appalachian Film Festival, visit www.appyfilmfest.com.