Video and mobile video contests for global citizen journalists. · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Three different video contests open for video bloggers from around the world to participate in, either especifically geared for citizen  journalists or with a category for them. One for mobile movies, one to promote causes you care for and the last to report news through online video. So bring out your cameras and read on to discover how to participate.
From Spain, ElPais.com brings us the Movil Film Fest, an online mobile 1 minute video contest. Although it is geared primarily to locally made movies, which they call “national”, there are no restrictions regarding nationality of the producers, although only the local films will compete for the main awards, videos from outside Spain will have their own category.  All the videos have to be less than 1 minute long and have been shot with cell phones or PDAs, what they call mobile communication terminals. There is time until April 21st 2008 to submit a video.
The novelty is that this year they will have an award for Best Citizen Journalism piece, although they haven´t yet mentioned what the prize will be. There will also be a honourable mention for the best foreign film and the best “made 4 mobile” film. Judges will vote for the main categories and viewers will get to vote for their favorite for a final viewer´s choice category. Last year voting took place through SMS messages, but this year they eliminated that and opened it to online vote. Last year´s submitted videos can be found following this link.
The second contest is a worldwide contest based on myspace.com social networking site. They are requesting for youth between 14 and 24 years of age from all around the world to “Film your issue” in more than 30 seconds but less than 2 minutes. Prizes include internships at different organizations such as USA Today, The United Nations and the Humane Society, however there are citizenship restrictions and mostly the winners will have to pay for their tickets, lodging and meals during their internships, and the $5000 USD College scholarship is only valid for US citizens, making the prizes themselves less attractive for international participants. However, the winning videos would be broadcast on different networks, TV stations and websites, making street cred and bragging rights the likelier reward for the foreign participants. Already some videos have been uploaded for this contest, and participants have time until April 14th to participate in any of the several issue categories.
Last year's International Jury Selection winner was Dolly Ovadia Nahon from Haifa, Israel, who wrote:
“I chose woman trafficking because it feels to me that its a subject that has fallen out of the social agenda, prostitutes are stigmatized and that makes there freedom less viable.
800,000-900,000 women and children are trafficked and prostituted against their will worldwide each year. This is the story of one of them. Modern Slavery must be Stoped!!!”
Here are three contests open for citizens of any nationality: do you know of any other contests for citizen media videos in your country or region? We would love it if you shared this information in the comments!