WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR 5TH ANNUAL FILM YOUR ISSUE AND 1ST ANNUAL SING YOUR ISSUE YOUTH
COMPETITION SUPPORTED BY YOUTUBE, BEST BUY, APPLE, SONY, OTHERS
YOUTH SOLUTIONS FROM 14 TO 24 YEAR OLDS PRESENTED TO OBAMA ADMINISTRATION RANGE FROM ABUSED KENYAN WOMEN’S FOUNDATION TO TOXIC KEROSENE LAMP REPLACEMENT IN RURAL INDIA. ISSUE SONG WINNER IS AN 18 YEAR OLD BRITISH GIRL WHO LIVES IN TEXAS.
JACK BLACK, TOM BROKAW, THE DALAI LAMA, YOKO ONO, AND FOUNDERS OF YOUTUBE, CRAIGSLIST AND WIKIPEDIA AMONG VIP JURISTS
WINNERS FLOWN TO LOS ANGELES FOR AWARDS CEREMONY CO-HOSTED BY SONY PICTURES, BEST BUY AND YOUTUBE
Los Angeles - June 3, 2010 C New foundations launched by 19 and 21 year olds – helping abused Kenyan women forced into a life of prostitution and multiple abortions, and replacing toxic kerosene lamps in rural India with solar rechargeable lights – were among the winners of the 2010 What’s Your Issue-Film Your Issue competition for global youth 14 to 24.
Taking youth online activism, user-generated content and social networking to the next level, the 5th annual competition – supported by YouTube, Apple, Best Buy and Sony Pictures – invited young adults to develop and submit solution-project proposals to front burner issues via 3-minute videos, which were uploaded to YouTube, and voted on by the public, and VIP Jury.
While Women Weep, by Nikole Lim, 21, El Sobrante, California; Giving the Green Light, by Ximena Prugue, 19, Miami, Florida; The Great Exchange, by Everett Glovier, 18, Darlington, Maryland; and Shark Finning, by Sarah Hardwick, 14, Lake Worth, Florida, won the 2010 Jury Awards. Save H20 by Richie Vernillo, 16, of Smithtown, NY, was the YouTube Audience Favorite Solution Award winner. And Giving the Green Light received the inaugural Young Entrepreneur Award, sponsored by Maurice Lacroix Swiss watchmaker.
In the new Issue Song category, with actor and singer Jack Black as inaugural VIP Music Jurist, Georgia Napolitano, 18, of Austin, Texas won for her song, Make a Change. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOvAzLiMHPY
The winning solutions and Issue song are being presented to senior officials in the Obama administration, presented on the What’s Your Issue iTunes Channel, and winners flown to Los Angeles for the Awards Ceremony co-hosted by Sony Pictures. All winners receive iPod Touches; YouTube winner Richie Vernillo also receives an iPad; Nikole Lim has been selected by the Sundance Institute to receive the Student Filmmaker Pass to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival; and Ximena Prugue receives a Chronographe Pontos watch from Maurice Lacroix Swiss watchmaker.
The global leaders selecting winning solutions for Jury Awards, headed by Distinguished Honorary Jurist Tom Brokaw, include Jack Black, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Yoko Ono, Deepak Chopra and the founders of YouTube, Craigslist and Wikipedia. Past VIP Jurists include Senator Barack Obama, George Clooney and Anderson Cooper.
AFor the last four years we have asked young adults to articulate issues that burn for them. We feel this is a dynamic and escalated call to action, asking youth for workable projects to address issues,@ says HeathCliff Rothman, founder and president of What=s Your Issue Foundation, which runs Film Your Issue. AWe think that young people can bring a freshness and innovation to the process of creating solutions, and the process also encourages entrepreneurship and leadership.@
The full roster of supporting companies and organizations supporting the youth civic engagement campaign include YouTube, Best Buy, Apple, Sony Pictures Entertainment, American Red Cross, The Sundance Institute, Colin Powell=s America=s Promise Alliance, NAACP, The Association of American Colleges and Universities, The University Network, Be The Change Inc., Service Nation, Center for Civic Engagement/ Project Citizen, NAMM, Maurice Lacroix Swiss watchmaker, Band Together, Teen Truth Live, Ashoka Youth Venture, Human Rights Campaign, Roosevelt Institution, MetaFoundry and Fitzgibbon Media.
The full VIP leadership Jury for 2010 includes Tom Brokaw, Jack Black, Deepak Chopra, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, Oprah Winfrey Network CEO Christina Norman, Apple Education Vice President John Couch, Best Buy Senior Vice President James Damian, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, NAACP President Ben Jealous, Actor/ Writer/ Director Liev Schreiber, Sony Pictures Entertainment Executive Vice President Jim Kennedy, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Global Philanthropy Group President Trevor Neilson, Carnegie Corporation of New York President Vartan Gregorian, Actor and Philanthropists Kirk Douglas and Anne Douglas.
Winners from past competitions have gone on to work in major Hollywood production companies, been invited to present their films on Capitol Hill, and co-produced a Sundance Grand Jury Award winner. Through the global reach of the internet, entries from past rounds have come not only from the U.S., but from all points across the globe, including Iran, The Philippines, Brazil, Russia, Hong Kong, Israel, the U.K., Argentina and elsewhere.
