A few years ago “google” was put in the dictionary as a verb. I wonder if the same momentous thing is about to happen with YouTube? I reckon that events and every day and historical moments are rated by whether they are ‘YouTube-able’. 

Powershift’s parliament square dance, can I YouTube it? Barack Obama’s inauguration speech, YouTube-able? Cheryl Cole’s new single… You get the point.

That’s why today we’re launching a national viral video competition. There are some cracking prizes, with Flip Video cameras up for grabs. So if you’re an aspiring filmmaker we want you to raise your voice and help spread the word about The Wave, a march through the streets of London on the 5th of December.

It’s the last chance to tell world-leaders to secure a global deal that is safe (slashes emissions) and

fair (gives money to developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change), when they meet at the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen. We want you to come along and be part of the day and we want you to use your creative and video skills to help get others involved too.

So how can you enter and win this competition? Here are the ins and outs.

1. The competition starts today and closes at noon (GMT) on November 27th.
2. The video with the most views wins!
3. Your video has to be on YouTube and you must send us a link to your video. (See below for email addresses). We may  choose to promote the videos and reserve the right to use them for our own purposes.
4. Your video must promote ‘The Wave’ on the 5th of December and must include the Oxfam Wave webpage URL: www.oxfam.org.uk/thewave
5. There will be one winner from England, one from Scotland and one from Wales.
6. This competition is not open to Oxfam employees but is open to volunteers.

Simple! Puppet shows, mini-soaps, reality TV and musicals all accepted. Humour is good - often the most watched videos on YouTube are the funny ones.

Remember, promotion of your video is key (and it being good). You can often link YouTube to Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Think about keywords that might help your video come up in searches- ‘climate change’, ‘Oxfam’ and your town/ city name might be a good start.

You could also see if local bloggers/ journalists or notable people are interested in promoting the video or creating a traditional media story about your film, the competition and The Wave.

If you’re worried about editing there is lots of free video editing software available on the web. I use Videospin (www.videospin.com) or you could try Microsofts ‘Movie Maker’ which is standard with Microsoft Windows.

If you are using music then think about copyright. We can’t accept any films that breach copyright law. We use www.incompetech.com to get free music.

Think about getting Oxfam’s message about the human impact of climate change.
Here are the email addresses that you should send your video link to. Get in touch with the most appropriate if you’ve got any questions about the competition, making online films or The Wave in general.

London and South East Entries: Lucy laitkenread@oxfam.org.uk

Midlands: Will wtucker@oxfam.org.uk

Southwest: Fiona Fremnant@oxfam.org.uk

North of England: Nicola nsansom@oxfam.org.uk

Scotland: Sarah sawatson@oxfam.org.uk

Wales: Beth bharper@oxfam.org.uk

Get YouTube-ing!

Tags: activism, activists, competition, Oxfam, Video, viral, YouTube

This entry was posted by Lucy Aitken-Read on October 23rd, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under Campaigns Blog, Campaigns News, Oxfam South East, You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.