The United Nations' food aid agency has called on budding filmmakers to help it raise awareness of hunger and bring the reality of abject poverty and suffering to the "YouTube generation."The World Food Program (WFP) launched a contest on Wednesday for "edgy 30- or 60-second video(s) that will make the online community buzz about global hunger," it said.
"For those of us doing the day-in, day-out backbreaking work of getting food to hungry people, it's sometimes discouraging how few people understand that hunger stalks and kills a child every five seconds," said WFP communications director Nancy Roman.
The five best films will be posted on the WFP's YouTube site, with the overall winner receiving a trip to one of the agency's relief operations.
Filmmakers stand a better chance of winning if they get play on blogs or networking sites like Facebook or MySpace before the competition's July 2008 deadline, WFP said.
The agency has posted its own video at its site www.youtube.com/hungerbytes, which shows footage of people in eating competitions bolting down hotdogs and plates of spaghetti, accompanied by The Beatles' song "Piggies."
At the end of the video, the text reads: "850 million go to bed hungry every night ... Share."
It is
©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. CNET , CNET.com , and the CNET logo are registered trademarks of CNET Networks, Inc. Used by permission.
