The "Democracy has a New Challenge" website from America.gov invites submissions of a video short that completes the phrase "Democracy is…" The 3-minute videos will be judged in a 3-round process including regional contest sponsors, representatives of the film industry and democracy and youth organisations, and the public via the internet site YouTube. The six regional winners, one from each of the six geographic regions, will travel to the United States (US) to claim their prize in the fall of 2010.

The prize to the finalists includes:

• An all-expense-paid trip to three US destinations: Washington, DC, New York, NY, and Hollywood, CA, for screenings of the winning videos (contingent on the winners' eligibility to receive a US tourist visa).
• Exposure to filmmakers and the US film and television industry.
• Meetings with democracy advocates from government, media, and civil society.

Participants must be 18 or older to enter. Videos must be no longer than three minutes and can be any style: fiction or documentary, animated or live action. Videos must be in English or have English subtitles. Contestants may enter anonymously, but anonymous winners cannot collect the travel prize.

The six world geographic regions from each of which 3 finalists will be selected are: Western Hemisphere, East Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, Near East, South, and Central Asia. There will be a category for anonymously submitted films from which three anonymous finalists will be selected, for a total of twenty-one finalists. The general public will vote online for the winning videos May 15 - June 15 2010. Seven winners - one from each region and one anonymous winner - will be announced in mid-June 2010.

Click here for more information.


Click here for a complete list of rules.

America.gov website on November 9 2009.