Film your issue

I was notified today of an interesting film competition for college and high

school students: Film Your

Issue

(FYI). Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

Winners are selected by an illustrious VIP Jury, by the public online, and by

participating cause organizations. Prizes to eleven winning films include

internships at USA TODAY, The United Nations, P.O.V. and The Humane Society and

a $5000 college scholarship from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and

Strong American Schools, and a filmmaker VIP Pass and presentation at

SILVERDOCS:  AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival.  Winning films or

excerpts will also be broadcast on Starz, and a selection presented at the

annual NAACP Conference. The MTV audience favorite will be featured on Think,

MTV’s multi-media community focused on youth activism, and the winning filmmaker

profiled on MTV News.  In addition, FYI presents two additional annual awards: 

The Walter Cronkite Civic Engagement Leadership Award to an academic

institution, and The Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award, to an

individual.

FYI 2008’s VIP Jury is headed by legendary news anchors and

authors Walter Cronkite and Tom Brokaw, and includes MySpace Founder Tom

Anderson, MTV President Christina Norman, CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer, NBC Anchor

Brian Williams, United Nations DPI Under-Secretary-General Kiyotaka Akasaka,

Best Buy Vice-Chairman Brad Anderson, HBO Host Bill Maher, USA TODAY Publisher

Craig Moon, USA TODAY Founder Al Neuharth, Weinstein Company Co-founder Harvey

Weinstein and others. 

Sounds like an interesting showcase for students to use multimedia to express

themselves on important topics. I like the two-minute constraint too. It forces

students to pare down to their essential message…

Here are some of the past honorees:

• One

word

How

a prostitute is born

Looks

can be deceiving

The

terrorist

2006 winners