Ben says Film Your Issue changed his life. Yours could be next. Submissions for Film Your Issue and What’s Your Issue Music are due April 19th, 2010.

Click on the image to read the blog on HRC’s website, or click the jump for a transcribed copy.

Two years ago today, I was sitting around my dorm room with nothing to do. So I did what any other college student does when they have free time. I logged onto YouTube. Among watching the latest music videos and performances, I came across an ad for a video competition called “Film Your Issue.”

The directions were simple enough. “In 2 minutes or less, talk about an issue that’s important to you.” There were a number of categories, including environment, education, poverty, and LGBT issues. It sounded like something completely doable. At the time I wasn’t involved in any kind of activism. I didn’t even participate in my school’s GSA. But I knew I had a story to tell, and here was my avenue to tell it. The next Sunday, I checked out the camera from my school’s communications department, and got to filming. I wrote a poem about the personal struggle with being gay and a Christian. I spoke from the heart about my experiences. The whole thing took under 4 hours, but the effects of it will last forever.

I posted the video on YouTube, and watched as it got hit after hit. I got a call a few weeks later telling me that I was selected to receive the Human Rights Campaign award for my video. Film Your Issue flew me out to LA for the Awards Ceremony, where I met Anastasia Khoo, HRC’s marketing director. Later on that summer she helped get me an internship in the Media Center, which then led to a full-time job, and I’ve been here ever since.

I’m always amazed that when I Google my name, there are tons of websites that link back to my video. I’m grateful to Film Your Issue for the opportunity to be heard. But the most important thing to come from this experience was the conversation it opened with my family and friends. The issues I talked about it my video were so real to me, and I felt them on a daily basis, but I never had the courage to talk openly about them. The video I created was a jumping off point to communicating my passions and fears with those I love. My family was not aware that their inaction and ignorance on certain issues wasn’t just hurting me, but they’re hurting an entire community. Now I have many voices resonating with me when I speak out.

I’ve heard that the worst thing that can happen to a movement is for people to be silent. It’s time to demand equality. It’s time to make our voices heard. This year, Film Your Issue has announced 2 different opportunities. You can submit a video up to 3 minutes in length describing the need for ENDA, a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, immigration reform, or any other matter. FYI is also having their first song competition. Record an original song speaking about any issue and enter through their website. To find out more, visit www.WhatsYourIssue.tv.

The prizes they offer are incredible. The connections you’ll make through it are unmatched. But the message you send is what counts most of all. And it might open doors for you that you’ve never noticed before.

FILM YOUR ISSUE: Gay and Label Free: 2008 Winner

The creators – 21-year old Cameron Ernst & Devon Feldmeth – say they were inspired by the plight of child soldiers in Uganda, and the movement, Invisible Children, to help.

Deadline is April 19, 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/whatsyourissuemusic#p/u/0/YN5njYarNGY

Last year during World Autism Awareness Day on April 2, Yoko created a piece of artwork called “Promise” in celebration of the annual World Autism Awareness Day. It was auctioned off for thousands and thousands of dollars — all to benefit Autism Speaks.

“As an artist the concept of distance means nothing to me, you can bring the whole world together with a song, a painting or a single word and that is what I have tried to achieve with ‘Promise’ and I hope it has been able to make a difference,” she said at the gala where she was recognized.

Have an idea or solution to a pressing issue for Yoko? To participate in our Film Your Issue competition, please visit here. If you’re a singer or songwriter, we have something for you as well. The deadline is April 19, so better get filming!

To access via web, go to http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id360749159 and you can redirect to iTunes

Or to access directly from iTunes, go to iTunes Store and under search, type in “film your issue.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heathcliff-rothman/how-to-engage-youth-in-a_b_510676.html

We would love to have some filmmakers and singer/songwriters represented in this group of youth activists. Best of all, the week-long program is paid for by Oxfam — that’s right, it’s free!

Think you’re interested? Apply online or recommend a student at http://www.oxfamamerica.org/change.

Applications are due on April 1, 2010.

For more information, click the Oxfam logo below.

We all like success stories. Especially a guy as nice (and talented) as Tim Leaton. He won the 2006 Film Your Issue competition, and with it the summer internship at Walt Disney Studios.

Cut to a few years later. In today’s Collegiate Times is a feature story on Tim – who now lives in Los Angeles, has worked with Ben Stiller, and works as assistant editor for shows such as “Marriage Ref” and “World’s Strictest Parents.”

For full story – http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/15235/alumnus-film-career-started-with-competition

This is the 2nd year that the The Human Rights Campaign is a partner in Film Your Issue, outreaching to its LGBT members to submit films (and now songs).

You can catch their newscast at http://www.hrc.org/equallyspeaking

Great to experience all that engaged young energy!

The partnership with America’s Promise Alliance continues, as they reach out in today’s newsletter to their membership to encourage youth engagement in issues – and formulate solution-projects to submit for the current competition!

Here’s a link to the newsletter mailed today: http://www.bit.ly/97W242

Selected by the Center for Civic Education, the Film Your Issue-Project Citizen Public Policy Award will be awarded to a video that presents the best public policy solution to a public policy problem (including an explanation as to why the problem is best addressed by public policy).

The winner of the Film Your Issue-Project Citizen Public Policy Award winner will be flown by the Center for Civic Education to Los Angeles for the 2010 awards ceremony, co-hosted by Sony Pictures and Film Your Issue.

Winners will also be featured at the Center for Civic Education’s National Project Citizen Showcase at the Legislative Summit of the National Conference of State Legislatures in Louisville, Kentucky in July 2010.

The bi-partisan Center for Civic Education promotes the principles and practice of democracy in schools in the U.S. and abroad to more than 1.5 million annual participants worldwide.

For more information, go to http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=film_your_pc