Young winners of $1 Trillion video contest announced
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American Friends Service Committee
01/29/2011
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and The National Priorities Project (NPP) have announced the six lucky winners of the "If I Had a Trillion Dollars" video contest.
Two excellent first prize winners, Briseida Montiel of Brooklyn, NY, and Ali Holness, Anays Mercedes, Kyane Strother and Richard Joseph of Boston, will go to Washington DC next month and show their video to home-state lawmakers. The second and third prizewinners each will receive a Flip videocamera. Winners were selected based on film technique, originality and concept.
"This is the first time I've participated in a video contest. I decided to because this is a very important issue right now and getting involved makes me learn and be informed about it," says Briseida, age 19. "I wanted to do something deep that reflects the reality of our daily lives, that's why I used videos of kids and common people on Times Square and inside school."
Bristeida's video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii7DSJqHCiY). The Boston team's video can be seen at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9vOAxcy5rQ).
Who would you have picked? Go to http://www.youtube.com/user/IHTDVideos and check out all 48 submissions.
The judges included documentarian and producer of "Every War Has Two Losers" Haydn Reiss and staff of NPP and AFSC. They chose Jan. 17, 2011 Martin Luther King Day, to release the winners' names in the spirit of community service that this holiday honors and that the participants' work embodies.
"These participants really dug into the topic of military spending and budget priorities," notes Jo Comerford, NPP's executive director. "And it's imperative that we listen to the ways they believe our nation should spend our collective tax dollars – from improving their schools to helping feed families to housing homeless youth. Congratulations to all."
