The U.S. Department of State and its partners will announce the results of the Democracy Video Challenge, a worldwide online competition that engages people around the world in a global dialogue on democracy, on Tuesday, June 16, at 8:00 a.m. EDT (12:00 GMT). The announcement will be made live via Webcast at www.cpcwebcast.com/state.

The challenge asked video makers to complete the phrase “Democracy is…” through three-minute videos posted on the competition’s YouTube site. More than 900 people from 95 countries answered the challenge. With over 900,000 global viewers, the online public is choosing the winning videos by voting for six of 18 finalists identified by an independent jury that was co-chaired by Hernando de Soto (president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy) and Michael Apted (president of the Directors Guild of America).

The six winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip to New York, Washington, and Los Angeles in September, where they will meet with democracy groups, film and television professionals, the media, and government organizations. Screenings of their films are planned in all three cities.

Challenge partners include the Center for International Private Enterprise, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the International Youth Foundation, TakingITGlobal, the Directors Guild of America, Motion Picture Association of America, NBC Universal, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and the U.S. Department of State. YouTube is providing the video platform, and William Morris Endeavor Entertainment is providing part of the prize package.

For more information about the Democracy Video Challenge, contact Laura Hesselton via phone at 202-453-8383 or via e-mail at hesseltonle@state.gov.

For additional details, visit the Democracy Video Challenge web site at www.youtube.com/democracychallenge.