Calling All Creatives!
MyToons.com Bumper Blastoff Animation Contest - With $7,000 in Cash Prizes - Now Accepting Entries Through Feb. 28
Online Animation Community’s Bumper Blastoff Contest Calls for Animators to Create Animated Bumpers and Compete for Prize Money

SAN ANTONIO - In response to positive animator feedback, MyToons.com, the world’s premier online animation community, is now accepting entries for Bumper Blastoff, its newest international animation contest, through February 28, 2008. Contestants are asked to create original animated bumpers lasting 30 seconds or less, for a chance to win their share of $7,000 in cash prizes. All animators, from students to professionals, are invited to enter Bumper Blastoff at MyToons.com.

Special Student Category:

Six “Rising Stars” in the student category will receive $500 each. One of the student winners will also be crowned “Supreme Rising Star” and will receive a professional portfolio review by INTERspectacular, Victor Newman of Freestyle Collective, and Michael Waldron of Nailgun.

Everyone else is invited to compete for one of MyToons.com’s three “Super Star” Awards. Winners will receive $1,000 each, with one “Supreme Super Star” grand prize winner being awarded an extra $1,000. In addition to these great prizes and worldwide exposure, MyToons.com will award limited edition T-shirts to randomly selected contestants on a weekly basis.

“The Art & Animation Community is our number one priority,” says Stacey Ford, chief creative officer of MyToons, “We are constantly looking for fun and creative ways to engage our members and promote their amazing skills. Bumper Blastoff will help us achieve this goal by empowering and rewarding the hard work and talent of animators everywhere.”

Animations entered into Bumper Blastoff will be judged by leading industry professionals Luis Blanco and Michael Uman, founders and creative directors of INTERspectacular in New York City. The nine winners will be announced on March 12, 2008.

“We’ve seen that students and beginning animators have tremendous talent and great ideas,” says Luis Blanco, one of the key creative directors of INTERspectacular, the award-winning New York-based design and concept studio. “We want to ensure that these amazing artists have equal opportunity to share their ideas and be rewarded for their dedication and creativity,” agrees Michael Uman, co-creative director of INTERspectacular. “The Rising Star category in Bumper Blastoff offers students a much-deserved and challenging opportunity to shine.”

Animators from across the globe are expected to participate in MyToons.com’s second worldwide contest. MyToons’ first contest attracted animators from countries as diverse as Australia, Brazil, France and Germany.

Winning selections will run as pre-rolls and bumpers on MyToons.com and on MyToons’ partner websites. This amazing opportunity will provide the winning animators with great exposure to the millions of people who enjoy MyToons.com. For more information, visit MyToons.com/blastoff.

About MyToons.com
Based in San Antonio Texas, MyToons.com was established in 2006 as the premiere online resource and entertainment destination for professional animators, students, artists and animation fans. Founded by industry leaders Paul Ford, Dan Kraus and Stacey Ford, MyToons.com empowers animators and animation fans everywhere by providing a platform for interaction and world wide exposure.

MyToons is a trademark of MyToons, Inc. All rights reserved. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
For more information, press only:
MyToons Inc.
Jessica Beers
(210) 227-8666

Reader contact:
MyToons Inc.
118 Broadway, Suite 316
San Antonio TX 78205
(210) 227-8666
(210) 227-8667 fax
www.mytoons.com

Due to overwhelming response, the RE:Vision team is extending the Re:Store deadlines. The final deadline for registration AND entry is Friday February 15, 2008. They want to ensure that we receive every BRILLIANT idea possible, so register and submit your entry with them by February 15th

In the coming competitions, they’ll also be seeking your sustainable ideas for planning, construction and architecture. Visit www.urbanrevision.com for complete rules, details and prizes.

If you’re interested in breaking into editorial photography, check out our seminar on building a freelance photo career on Wednesday, 30 January with Pulitzer-winning photo editor Stella Kramer. A student at her last class wrote, “Stella offers refreshing, candid insights into a side of the business that photographers rarely see. Her ability to clearly describe what photo editors are looking for was a real eye-opener.”

Stella Kramer is a multi-award-winning photo editor who has worked in the New York publishing industry for more than 15 years. She was part of the photo team at The New York Times that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography, the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in recognition of the Portraits of Grief which ran after September 11th, and a 2002 Infinity Award for Public Service from the International Center of Photography. She has worked at The New York Times, People, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, MONEY, and Brill’s Content, where she was director of photography.

This seminar will be held Wednesday, 30 January from 6:30 to 9:30 pm at mediabistro in NY. Visit the site to learn more and to register.

TMA Hellerau hosts an international competition of CYNETart, inviting artists and art groups to present their projects every two years. They can apply with projects that fully utilise digital technologies in their conceptual, creative and performing processes, thereby opening up opportunities for digital performance and their relationship to factors such as time, space, physical presence and social encounters. An international jury with representatives from well-established media culture institutions and experienced scientists with a background in media art history will decide about the winner of the CYNETart-award and the sponsorship award. It will also decide on the award of the artist-in-residence-scholarship funded by the Ministry of Culture. On the occasion of the Chess Olympiad 2008 in Dresden (12th until 25th November 2008) we will together with Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG (ZMD) tender a so-called chess-media-art-award for the amount of €5.000 for the first time.

Deadline for submissions: 22nd March 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

Via: Chris Joseph

You all know the routine by now. Register for the Red Bull Art of Can exhibition in Houston and complete the forms before midnight 6, April. You receive email confirmation once your registration is received, and you’ll then need to submit a Transfer Agreement Form with your artwork. Artwork will be accepted from 29 March - 6 April at The Winter Street Studios in Houston.

Ok - what’s the first step? That’s right. See you at the application form.

Notice that the deadlines for application and for the acceptance of artwork in Houston are the same (6 April) - if I were you I’d fill out that application ASAP.

The International Women’s Film Festival (IWFF), hosted by the University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI), is an annual exhibition of films by and about women — the one and only running women’s film festival of is kind in the Philippines held during Women’s Month. It aims to highlight the importance of raising women’s consciousness, promoting women’s rights and empowerment primarily through cinema.
The IWFF Festival Committee would like to invite women filmmakers from all over the world to be part of this event by submitting their works. All genres are accepted. There is no entry fee to join this competition. Successful entries will be exhibited at the festival. Trophies and prizes will be given away to the best works.

Entries should reach the IWFF organizers by 18 February 2008. Visit the site to learn more about the guidelines and acceptable categories.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

One Million People to Audition for ‘America’s Next Video Star’

Uvoto.com Launches World’s Largest Talent Contest and Interactive TV Show

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 16, 2008 — What if a few tips from your friends could launch your singing career? What if your mom really is your biggest fan? Does a local indie band from Kansas really have a fair shot at fame in Hollywood? Until now the answer was no, but that is all about to change with the beta launch of www.uvoto.com and the world’s largest talent contest called “America’s Next Video Star.”

The free contest gives millions of people the chance to become the next TV star by sharing their audition videos online in categories such as singing, dancing, acting, modeling, fitness, cooking, and martial arts. The videos are promoted on digital media networks, social network community sites, blogs, mobile phone carriers, and television, thus making it the largest interactive TV contest platform in the
USA.

Contestants can catapult to the top of the rankings chart and earn money by accepting tips from fans who text message their supporting votes. Uvoto.com is unique because it provides a marketplace to directly pay money collected from advertising and votes specifically to the stars who receive tips. This business model can disrupt the Hollywood dependence on singular mass audiences and successfully aggregates many micro-audiences. Uvoto does not spend money on commercials or have celebrity judges who influence mass opinion. Instead Uvoto lets the Mob of fans decide the winners and tip their favorite performers. The contest allows unlimited numbers of contestants to access media distribution channels and promotion tools that spread through viral marketing.

America’s Next Video Star was created by a San Diego start-up called N1NE Multimedia. Tom Marchesello is the young CEO who turned down VC money, and quietly built the company over the last 2 years. He says it is easy to make mistakes if you listen to too many of the wrong people: “I had an idea for making a powerful media experience that bridged TV, mobile, and web technology. But the challenge was to make it be fun and easy to use. I think Uvoto is the first generation of platform that really achieves the goal of delivering fairness and opportunity to millions of talented people. I’m excited to see who is going to be America’s Next Star.” For additional information on Uvoto and America’s Next Video Star, contact Tom Marchesello or visit www.uvoto.com.

About N1NE Multimedia:

N1NE Multimedia is a digital media and entertainment company that produces interactive television shows, SMS voting systems, and Web 2.0 applications. The CEO is Tom Marchesello, an Internet and technology entrepreneur, who has previously built innovative media companies such as e-commerce giant SonyStyle.com to digital advertising network FuelCast Media.

Contact:

Tom Marchesello
N1NE.com
858-240-2248
www.uvoto.com

The Caribbean Advertising Federation (CAF) has announced their call for entries for the 2008 ADDY Awards. The annual competition recognizes creative advertising excellence in the Caribbean in all media — print, broadcast, multi-media, online, out-of- home and public service advertising.

The ADDY Awards competition is a three-tier local, regional and national competition, conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Local winners from the CAF will compete in the American Advertising Federation’s 4th District competition in Florida. The winners
of that competition will then be eligible for the ultimate prize — a National ADDY Award, announced in June 2008.
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The Int’l Fest of Cinema and Technology Announces 2007 Award Winners

(January 16, 2008) The Int’l Fest of Cinema and Technology announcedthe winners from its 2007 festival tour. This past year’s festivalevents featured a wide variety of films in different award categories.Festival events took place in The Philippines, Washington DC, NewYork, Jacksonville, Florida, Los Angeles, Burlington, Vermont andLondon. The International Fest of Cinema and Technology has beenpresenting touring film festival events since 2002. The IFCT WorldTour is designed to give exposure to independent films many of whichpreviously had been underexposed to the public. The festival’s mottois it seeks to “discover the undiscovered film.” The “technology” inthe festival’s name occurs both in the content of the festival, whichtends to focus on themes of technology or feature unique creationtechniques, as well as in the method of showcasing content at theevents.

Among this year’s award winners were a few award “sweeps” includingTHE RECE!PT Directed by Tim Garrick which won The IFCT 2007 Award forBest Short and The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Comedic Short. THERECE!PT is an innovative and comedic homage to Run Lola Run starringMatthew D. McCallum, Kristen Bell, and Dina Meyer. About his multiplewins, Garrick stated “We are extremely honored to have won the BestComedic Short and Best Short awards for the IFCT 2007 World Tour. Theopportunity to be part of a truly international film festival wasamazing. We were thrilled that our film found a home in IFCT’sprestigious 2007 line up.”

Other winners of multiple award categories included the French shortfilm “Play the Game,” Directed by Stéphane Barbato, which won The IFCT2007 Award for Best European Short Film, Runner-Up for Best Short andand Honorable Mention for Best Cinematography in a Short Film. Playthe Game is inspired by a true story taken from the First World War.Razor Fish Directed by UK filmmaker Helen Williams won The IFCT 2007Award for Best UK Short, Honorable Mention for The IFCT 2007 Award forBest UK Short and Honorable Mention for The IFCT 2007 Award for BestFemale Director. Razor Fish stars Academy-award winner Brenda Fricker(My Left Foot) About her win, Williams stated “This is my secondshort and entirely self funded. It has been a labour of love oneveryone’s part with the entire cast and crew doing it out of thegoodness of their hearts.” The film Ed I Hide Directed by SuzanneLaine and Len Peltier won The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Screenplay andThe IFCT 2007 Award for Best Female Director

IFCT has a large selection of animated films and films with FX andinnovative visuals. Henry Selick’s short animated film “Moongirl” wonThe IFCT 2007 Award for Best Animation. Selick is the stop-motion gurubehind The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.Protocole33 Directed by Benoît Lestang won two awards: The IFCT 2007Award for Best Visual FX and The IFCT 2007 Award for Best VisualInnovation. Lestang has worked as a special effects make-up artist onover 50 feature films. Other animation winners for 2007 included BlurStudio’s “In the Rough” for The IFCT 2007 Award for Best ComedicAnimation, Life in Transition for The IFCT 2007 Award for MostInnovative Animation, Les Humains (music video for aKido) Directed byFélix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël and Thien Vu Dang for The IFCT 2007Award for Best Music Video and Fauna Sutra Directed by Johan won TheIFCT 2007 Award for Best Short Short Animation Directed by JohanKlungel and originating in The Netherlands.

In the festival Documentary category, The Loci Dogma directed byCanadian filmmaker Justin Antippa won The IFCT 2007 Award for BestExperimental Documentary and also Runner-Up for The IFCT 2007 Awardfor Best Cinematography in a Documentary. The film “scans theauthor’s unconsciousness throughout his genetic and environmentalaffiliation.” The World Naked Bike Ride Directed by Johnny Zapatos wonThe IFCT 2007 Award for Best Documentary and The IFCT 2007 Award forBest Director of a Documentary. The Legend of the Holy Fishermendirected by Daniele Atzeni won The IFCT 2007 Award for BestCinematography in a Documentary.

Other winners in the festival Short Film categories included IlRitratto Ovale (Oval Portrait) by Directed by Nestore Buonafede- TheIFCT 2007 Award for Best Cinematography in a Short, Un Dia En La VidaDirected by Marco Orsin- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Dramai,Radio-The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Canadian Film, Do Not DisturbDirected by Douglas Stark- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Thriller,Bunny and Clydo Directed by Rocky Jo-The IFCT 2007 Award for BestAction Film, The Last Alchemist Directed by Nicolas Caicoya- The IFCT2007 Award for Best Sci-Fi Film, Anna Directed by Michael Fandl - TheIFCT 2007 Award for Foreign Thriller, The Milky Way Directed by SeanBloch- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Student Film, Last Night Directedby Scott Patch- The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Microbudget Short andRoad Rage by Kate Duhamel-The IFCT 2007 Award for Best Short ShortFilm.

The Int’l Fest of Cinema and Technology also has a post-2007 freescreening of highlighted animated shorts from last year which istaking place January 29th in Melbourne at The Loop (located at 23Meyers Place), beginning at 8pm. The schedule for IFCT’s upcoming 2008tour which will be beginning shortly can also be found at the website. For the complete list of The Int’l Fest of Cinema and Technology2007 award winners visit www.ifct.org.

Collins College is hosting an “Animation Sketch-Off” and a Q & A session with professional comic and animation artists Shannon Denton and Jay Fotos. The winner of Collins’ “Animation Sketch-Off” will receive four complimentary passes to Phoenix Cactus Comicon 2008, Arizona’s largest comic book, anime and pop culture convention 26-27 January. To RSVP for Collin’s “Animation Sketch-Off” and Q & A session, call 480-966-3000 or visit www.contactcollins.com. Participants need to be present to win.
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