The Center on Communication Leadership and Policy is proud to announce its partnership in the Democracy Video Challenge, an innovative contest created by the United States Department of State to engage global citizens in a dialogue about democracy. The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism is part of a public-private partnership that includes the Center for International Private Enterprise, the International Republican Institute, the International Youth Foundation, the Motion Picture Association of America, NBC Universal, the National Democratic Institute, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, the Recording Industry Association of America, Taking IT Global, YouTube, and the U.S. State Department.
Using new media technologies and multimedia resources to explore an age-old ideal, challenge participants around the world created short online videos to complete the phrase, “Democracy is…” An independent jury selected 21 finalists from the six world geographic regions defined by the U.S. Department of State (the Western Hemisphere, East Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, Near East, and South and Central Asia). From May 15 to June 15, 2010, the general public voted online using YouTube’s rating system to select the seven winners (one from each region and one anonymous winner).
The videos were judged on overall impact, creativity and production value, and the winning videos showcased the directors’ distinctive visions of democracy. The 2010 winners are Yared Shumete (Ethiopia) for “Democracy is fair play,” Adhyatmika (Indonesia) for “Democracy is yet to learn,” Joel Marsden (Spain) for “World Vote Now,” Farbod Khoshtinat (Iran) for “ATTN: Mr. Democrat,” Anup Poudel (Nepal) for “Democracy is black,” and Juan Pablo Patiño Arévalo (Colombia) for “Democracy is…the right of life (War Child).”
The winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles in September 2010. They will attend gala screenings of their films and meet with influential leaders in the United States government and entertainment industry.