embassy events 2009

Democracy Video Challenge Webchat on August 14!

12 August 2009

On Friday August 14, the European winner of the Democracy Video Challenge, Łukasz Szozda, will participate in a webchat—a great way to connect audiences across the globe. The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw encourages everyone to participate. For details on the webchat, please click here. Łukasz Szozda won the grand prize among European entrants in the YouTube/U.S. Department of State Democracy Video Challenge.   He will travel to New York, Washington DC, and Hollywood in October, where he and the five other grand prize winners from other regions around the world will meet with democracy activists and members of the film and television industry. “We are very proud to see that one of the excellent contributions by Polish video artists went on to win the grand prize for Europe,” U.S. Ambassador Victor Ashe commented. To see Lukasz Szozda’s winning entry, click here. For more information on other webchat series please follow this link. 

Mr. Szozda’s video is one of over 900 entries from 95 countries that competed for six grand prizes. The Democracy Video Challenge ran from October 2008 through January 2009, promoted in Poland by the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, the U.S. Consulate General in Krakow, MTV Poland, the Center for Citizenship Education, and POLIS – the association of young journalists.   Three Polish semi-finalists were selected by an open vote and were announced by legendary Polish film director Andrzej Wajda at the New Media/New Democracy Forum in March 2009 at Warsaw’s Fabryka Trzciny. A jury chaired by award-winning director Michael Apted and renowned economist Hernando de Soto selected three finalists from each region, with Mr. Szozda’s film competing for the grand prize from Europe. From May 15 to June 15, 2009, people from all over the world voted through YouTube for their favorite films.