Third Annual  Teen Digital Reels

The Tower of Youth Teen Digital Reel Annual Awards Showcase 99

The Teen Digital Awards Showcase is an all high school youth development project designed to:
     - build mastery with state of the art digital graphic communications technology
     - network the largest number of interesting youth, educators and commercial digital artists
     - challenge the education system to modernize and expand its available digital technology in combination with the arts
     - promote digital communications apprenticeships, jobs and careers for youth
     - demonstrate the sence of belonging, interdependence, and community building influence that flows from youth creatively applying new technology
 
 

The Teen Digital Awards Showcase is produced by the Tower of Youth New Media Source (TOY/NMS) , a regional membership network of young people, educators and commercial digital professionals. It invites high school age youth and their mentors to produce original, short, artistic digital "movies" that address compelling societal and planetary topics. These will be gathered, juried and exhibited March 14, 1999, at an annual Showcase event open to the public and the media at the Davis Veteran's Memorial Auditorium, 6:00 - 8:30 PM. The 1999 Third Annual Teen Digital Showcase event will give awards for the best produced digital media creations...a combination of photographed, constructed, and animated computer derived images, developed by Sacramento valley and Sierra foothill regional high school youth. All works submitted will be judged and awards designated by a panel of distinguished artists and communications media experts from the region.
 
 

This year, our Third Annual Digital Showcase will be an entirely independent event with dramatically more creative freedom in our production guidelines for the purpose of building skills and compentencies, increasing access and creativity among youth in this region!
 
 

Youth enrolled as a student in high school are eligible to participate. Youth may enter and produce work from either a school or a bonafide community organization source, but not both. (e.g. public or private school, youth organization, community agency sponsorship, or business sponsorship) Youth must live in the 6 county Sacramento region - Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, San Juaquin counties.
 

The following categories are designed as themes and should be used to help you focus the message of your digital productions. Each entry must select the one appropriate category within which your work will be compared and judged.
 
 

The following are the 5 Regular Content Categories:

1. The Environment

This category addresses issues relating to the quality of the air we breath, the water we drink, energy sources we use, or how the earth can be preserved and enhanced for future generations or that which threatens or despoils our physical reality.
 
2. A Public Service Ad or Commercial

Productions in this category can highlight a particular social issue or advocacy idea, a business, technology, a product that is being sold, or a service being offered. This category should be used to demonstrate and "sell" what youth feel bring value to our lives similar to any formal PSA or commercial advertisement.
 
3. Youth Challenges

As a young person, what does it mean to live in our society? What challenges do we face and what challenges must we send to each other or society at large? How do we cope with the pressures from the media, the business comunity, school, government, our culture, family life, locally or on any worldwide scale?
 
4. Experiencing the Wonder of Beauty

What inspires awe and art? What are the "AHAs" what we encounter? What provokes inspiration, passion, amazement, commitment in the world in which we live? How do we capture inovation, experimentation, and breakthrough imagery?
 
5. A Short Story

A professional job portfolio for graphic/movie making artist demands being able to tell an interesting story well and originally with a beginning, middle and end. Here's your chance to do a compelling tale in digital.

The 1999 Special Civic Category is:
 

6. The Power of Libraries

What resources, values, opportunities and benefits to youth and the community at large exist in our public libraries? What role will the libaries of the future play in building community and wide spread literacy. How can libraries be imaged to show their essential contribution in advancing social equality, human excellence and a truly democratic world?

1. Each production must be co-produced by two named youth with or without a mentor who will constitute an entry team and be eligible for award recognition. More youth may be involved as support to the entry team.

 
2. The final digital media productions including all video and audio components must be submitted assembled and viewed via a personal computer.

 
3. Each completed product must include some original graphics, images and/or animation and sound. These images may include those originally captured with video, digital cameras or scanning devices. Artists may elect to include original digital sounds or digitized video segments. The decision to include copyright materials, and the liability involved, should be made recognizing that the works will be broadcast on at least cable television and exhbibited in venues that are non commercial and not for profit. The Annual Showcase program may be marketed, on casette, at production cost, to provide the most widespread dissemination of the event. Any infringement on copyright is the sole liability of the entry producers.

 
4. All entries must be no shorter than 10 seconds in length and not longer than three minutes. These will be compared by the judges within the submitted content category, irrespective of length.

 
5. In order to have a full screen projected image at the Awards Showcase, the format for the final file entries must be rendered at 720 x 486 pixel size at high quality resolution using Quicktime 2.5 or later. One of the following CODECS (Compression Decompression Scheme) should be used:

 
VIDEO (Comes with Quicktime)
SORENSON VIDEO (Comes with QT 3)
AVID MEDIA COMPOSER (This will be available for download at our site)
6. We are aware that not all production sites are capable of this format production. However, there are a number sites in the region where files can be brought for completion and for final rendering. We will identify these and the list will be made available on the Tower of Youth web site (see below) by mid November. Information can be obtained immediately at Studio E-3 at San Juan Unified District digital video production lab from Joe Parente. The Phone # is 916/971-5156. The website address is www.sanjuan.edu/studioe3/students

 
7. All completed entries must be submitted for judging on digital Zip disks or CD ROM and must run independently of the application that was used to create the product. Entrants must fill out and submit a complete Entry Form attached herewith. There will be a $10 entry fee due with the Showcase Entry. Scholarship entries fees may be available upon request.

 
8. The producers of each product submitted for competition must specify one of the five Regular Showcase Content Categories and or the sixth, Special Civic Category, within which the producers wish to compete, and, inventory, in detail, the software and hardware used for the production on the Entry Form.

 
9. Each artistic production team may only submit one entry to the Showcase selecting one of the 5 regular content categories. However a second entry may be submitted to the Special Civic Category this year, "The Power of Libraries". For explanation see "Content Categories" below.

 
10. Prizes shall consist of the 1999 Annual TOY Teen Digital Reel glass award for each of the two co-producers and for the mentor in each team for the first, second and third prize entries in each of the Regular Content Categories. A $300 cash prize will be awarded to the Grand Prize Winner which will be selected from all the entries by the judges. In addition this year, a cash prize of $100 for the First Prize, $50 Second Prize and $25 Third Prize will be awarded in the Special Civic Category, "The Power of Libraries".

 

 

Exceptions may be granted by contacting TOY at (916) 922-0100
 

The knowledge and skill challenges of this new and creative digital graphic technology are very real. Most youth and teachers will be faced with a steep learning curve mastering new software, hardware, and a bag of creative approaches to "movie" making.

Throughout the production period, October 1998 to February 15, 1999, TOY/NMS will hold meetings and organize training seminars for youth and mentors The first four Sunday Training Sessions at University of California, Davis New Media Center will be from 1 - 5 PM, October25, November 22, December 6, and January 10th. Directions to the training sessions can be obtained by calling 530/754-8885. These sessions will be open to up to 40 individuals each.

Further dates and places will be announced on our web site www.towerofyouth.org to promote, monitor and support the creative and learning process and produce the Third Annual Teen Digital Showcase event. A group of professional digital graphics "Wizards" will be posted and available to help youth and mentors alike in preparing their works similar to the process used in the First and Second Teen Digital Awards Showcase, 1997 and 1998. We are very committed, through cooperation and collaboration, to achieve quality and excellence, to push everyone higher and higher in developing their artistry and technology.
 
 

Our Web site www.towerofyouth.org will be continually updated to provide announcements of meetings, trainings, and logistics for the event. Hopefully we will be able to organize a "Wizard" chat room or interactive means of connecting each other on a daily basis. Stay informed about who is involved and what is happening along the way so no one gets lost!
 
 

All entries for the Second Annual TOY/NMS Teen Digital Showcase event must be received before 5:00 PM, Monday, February 15, 1998. Entries received after this time and date, regardless of postmark, will not be accepted. If you would like your entry returned by us, please include a stamped self-addressed envelope with your submission.

Send Entries with $10 Entry Fee: (Make Checks payable to WIF/TOY)

Third Annual Tower of Youth Digital Showcase ’98
c/o Process Theater Productions
2740 Fulton Ave., Suite 101
Sacramento, CA 95821     (phone at delivery site: 916/489-7000)

Entries will be judged on the basis of -overall message strength, -production quality, -creativity and originality, and -overall impression. Three recognition awards, first second, and third place, will be given for each of the six categories, to each member of the production team. One Grand Prize Award will be given for best of show, and a special recogntion will be given for the Use of Digital Technology in Building Community.

Winners will be exhibited and announced at the March 14, 1999 Showcase event where the award and prize presentations will occur.

For Additional Information Please contact:
William Bronston, MD at Tower of Youth
3711 Dell Road
Carmichael, CA 95608
Phone: 916/922-0100
Fax 916/944-0700
e-mail: DrMarat@bbs.macnexus.org