OUR ILLUSTRIOUS PAST 7 YEARS, WITH BARACK & CLOONEY & CRONKITE & YOUTUBE AND MICROSOFT AND …
We’ve had lots of high moments ….
George Clooney joining our Film Your Issue Jury, writing an Open Letter to youth to engage in issues (below), participating in watching the semi-finalists, and saying of one of the winners – “Now, this is a filmmaker!” …..
Senator Barack Obama – pre-presidency – being excited about our initiative, and enrolling his staff to support our efforts while being part of our Jury …
Our breaking the record at MSNBC.com for biggest public voting poll for favorite video – beating the Superbowl ads voting poll, with nearly 90,000 votes ….
The inimitable Jack Black joining us in our 3rd year as our inaugural “Issue Song” competition Judge ….
Anderson Cooper being our esteemed “Poster Boy” for the 2nd year campaign – College Poster below – continuing to bring visibility and relevance to our campaign to engage youth via a film competition for short films on front-burner issues …..
Tom Brokaw lending his formidable intelligence and energy in our 2010 Film Your Issue edition, when we asked youth to also offer solutions to issues, in their film submissions ….
And Walter Cronkite, the legendary news anchor and author – and our first supporter, ambassador and ardent champion of our new idea in 2004 to launch a youth issue-oriented film competition at the intersection of social media, user-generated video and civic engagement. Walter was our Inaugural Distinguished Honorary Jurist, and worked with us until his death – helping to invite other prominent leaders to join us, encouraging youth to engage (his letter is below), and giving his thumbs up on our annual selection for the Walter Cronkite Civic Engagement Leadership Award.
We salute you, Walter, and miss you!
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Everyone Matters is the latest project from What’s Your Issue Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)3 which has run the annual Film Your Issue competition for youth.
At the FYI 2007 launch party during Sundance, with president HeathCliff Rothman, Kevin Bacon and guest
At Sundance, with partner Yahoo! – asking people their issues on Main Street
The FYI Team at Sundance 2007
It’s many years since we launched our first official during the Sundance Film Festival – with Entertainment Weekly and Microsoft as our co-presenters – and hosted our first of many Awards Ceremonies at The United Nations in New York.
Everyone Matters is expanding on the blueprint of Film Your Issue: using the internet, social media, networking and user-generated-content to raise awareness about issues.
This time we’ve chosen the issue of Tolerance and Inclusiveness – thanks to Don Henderson at Apple Education, with whom we shaped the original idea for the campaign. This campaign would not have happened without the spark of Don’s vision.
Participation is now for everyone –age 13 and up. We want people to participate from their lifeview, both at the early stages of their growth, as a youth, to their experience, wisdom and perspective of age.
We are proud of our illustrious history, beginning with Walter Cronkite, who was our first champion, and who we named our annual Civic Engagement Award after him, and he helped select our winners, including Kirk Douglas, Illinois State University and John McHale, and the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, founded by Steven Spielberg.
FYI’s first ceremony at the United Nations, hosted by USA TODAY, with Award Presenter Ellen Burstyn and FYI president HeathCliff Rothman
Our roster of past VIP Jurists also includes Tom Brokaw, Anderson Cooper, Jack Black, Judy Woodruff, Wolf Blitzer, Ellen Burstyn, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and partners ranging from The United Nations and USA TODAY to Microsoft, YouTube, Google, MySpace, Yahoo, Associated Press, the Humane Society of the United States, the American Red Cross, NAACP and others.
