Embassy Press Release

U.S. Embassy and Romanian Partners Launch Video Competition on YouTube

October 15, 2008

The U.S. Embassy launched a worldwide online video competition aimed at enhancing the global dialogue on democracy on Wednesday, October 15.

Well-known Romanian organizations in the fields of audiovisual arts, journalism, democratic values advocacy and academia -- National Audiovisual Council, Center for Independent Journalism, Pro Democracy Association, Civic Education Association, and the Fulbright Commission -- have generously agreed to judge the Romanian-produced videos to decide on three semi-finalists to represent Romania in the regional contest. At the launch, representatives of these organizations highlighted the importance of understanding democratic values and of the participation of young Romanians in such a competition.

“In the past decade modern media have become a key tool in a global discussion about democracy. Blogs, websites, even Facebook are full of political viewpoints. Our presidential campaign in the United States depends heavily on the Internet to reach out to voters and activists. Democracy-in-action via global communications makes a lot of sense in terms of citizen participation and freedom of expression: necessary parts of the strength of democratic nations and democratic peoples,” said Jeri Guthrie-Corn, the US Embassy chief of mission.

The Democracy Video Challenge contest invites young creative people, democracy advocates, filmmakers, and the general public to create video shorts of three minutes or less that complete the phrase “Democracy is…” and then upload their videos on YouTube.

Seven winners will be selected by the online voting public. Six regional winners will be eligible to claim an all-expense-paid trip to the United States which will include screenings of their videos in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Hollywood, as well as meetings with film directors, public officials and democracy advocates from nongovernmental organizations. Contestants who wish to compete anonymously may also submit videos. One anonymous video will be selected as a winner; however, that contestant will not be eligible to claim the travel prize.

Partners for the online video contest include the U.S. State Department, democracy and youth organizations, academia, and the news, film and entertainment industry (Center for International Private Enterprise, Directors Guild of America, International Republican Institute, International Youth Foundation, Motion Picture Association of America, NBC Universal, National Democratic Institute, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, and Taking IT Global). YouTube provides the video platform.

For details regarding the “Democracy Video Challenge” competition please access: http://bucharest.usembassy.gov/democracy

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