A trip to U.S. for the best video short on democracy

The U.S. Government has announced the Democracy Video Challenge, in which competitors will have the chance to create video shorts that complete the phrase, “Democracy is…”, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a press release from the U.S. Embassy in Moldova, participants must be 18 or older. Videos can be any style: fiction or documentary, animated or live action. Videos must be no longer than three minutes, and must either be in English or have English subtitles. The producers of the seven best short videos worldwide will receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, New York and Hollywood, where the winning videos will be screened. Additionally the winners will meet with representatives of the U.S. film and television industry, filmmakers and democracy advocates from government, the media and civil society, the press release reads. Videos may be submitted between September 15, 2008, and January 15, 2009. Semifinalists will be selected in March 2009. From this group, an independent jury will select 21 finalists during April 2009, with the general public voting online for the winning videos from May 15 to June 15, 2009. Seven winners – one each from the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Middle East-North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South & Central Asia, East Asia-Pacific and one anonymous winner – will be announced in June 2009 (anonymous winners cannot collect the grand prize). In October 2009, the six publicly identified winners will travel to the United States to claim their prize. The U.S. Government has launched the Democracy Video Challenge to encourage people to tell the world what democracy means to them. A complete list of rules will be posted soon to America.gov.