Democracy Video Challenge

The online competition Democracy Video Challenge seeks to engage democracy advocates, filmmakers, and citizens from around the world in a dialogue on democracy. The competition is initiated by the Department of State in public-private partnership*.The winners will travel to Washington, New York and Los Angeles to attend a gala event, hosted by the Motion Picture Association of America, where the winning films will be presented.They will also meet representatives of the U.S. film and television industries, government, media and civil society.

Submitted videos must be short (max. three minutes) and complete the phrase: "Democracy is...".

A review committee will pre-screen all video submissions to ensure conformance with Challenge rules and guidelines**. Videos that meet Challenge guidelines will be posted on the Challenge's pages at http://www.videochallenge.america.gov/ and/or a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/democracyvideochallenge" www.youtube.com/democracyvideochallenge

Winners will be selected through a multi-step review. Public web-based voting will determine the six final winners from six regional Groupings and an anonymous category***.

The seven winning videos will be screened at a gala event hosted by the Motion Picture Association of America in U.S. in October 2009.In addition, the six regional winners will receive an all-expense paid trip to the United States: Washington, New York and Los Angeles.In Washington, prize activities will focus on democracy with meetings/events with government, media and civil society leaders. In New York and Los Angeles, they will focus on the U.S. film and television industries, with partners providing access to TV/film sets, meetings with directors, film technicians, professional talent agents, new media experts, and tickets to the Universal Studios theme park in Los Angeles.

* The project is based on cooperation with partners from areas of academia (New York University Tisch School of the Arts/Tisch Asia; University of Southern California; School of Cinematic Arts/Red Sea Institute in Jordan), democracy (Center for International Private Enterprise, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute), film (Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association of America) and youth organizations (International Youth Foundation).
**The guidelines allow film fiction or documentary, animated or live action; no incitement to violence, no profanity, no pornography, and no commercial promotion. Videos must be in English or have English subtitles. Entrants must be 18 or older.
***An anonymous category will afford entrants who, for reasons of personal safety or local circumstance, may want a way to enter the contest without providing personally identifying information. However, the anonymous winner is ineligible to claim the US-based prize.

Timetable
September 15 2008 - January 15, 2009: Video submissions on YouTube
February - March 2009: Selection of semifinalists
April 2009: A team of Challenge partners will select 21finalists
May 15 – June 15, 2009: Public online voting of seven regional/global winners
June 2009: Seven winners announced
October 2009: Winners travel to the United State