YouTube and Pulitzer Center relaunch videojournalism contest

The Pulitzer Center has announced the second year of videojournalism competition, Project:Report.

The contest, which encourages non-professional filmmakers and 'citizen journalists' to report on news in their area, will once again be run in partnership with YouTube following its launch last year.

The 2010 competition will award $10,000-grants to five winners, instead of just one, to work with the centre on an international reporting project.

The competition will again feature three rounds, the first of which will open on 1 February. Details of these tasks will be announced soon with the deadline for the first assignment set for 28 February.

"What this contest showed, however, is that with the right tools, access to technology, and distribution platforms like YouTube, everyday citizens from around the world can contribute meaningfully to the newsgathering process," Olivia Ma, news manager for YouTube News&Politics, told Journalism.co.uk during last year's Project:Report.

"As news bureaux shrink and media organizations are forced to lay off depressingly large percentages of their reporting fleet, engaged individuals can participate in reporting important stories that might otherwise be left aside.

"The journalists who entered Project:Report unquestionably have a significant role in the future of journalism and will help dictate how the news is reported going forward."

Last year's winner Arturo Perez, who introduces the 2010 contest in the video at this link, was a self-funded, documentary filmmaker before entering the competition. His final film was about the residents of Camphill, a community for disabled adults in California.

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