The State Department is trying to provoke a discussion about democracy among young filmmakers around the world. They, along with YouTube and other private and public partners, recently launched their second Democracy Video Challenge, with six winners getting an all-expenses trip to the United States in fall 2010.

As with the first year, entrants must make a film of three minutes or less completing the phrase “Democracy is . . . ”

The six winners from the first year’s competition – hailing from Zambia, Philippines, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Nepal and Brazil – visited Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C. in September, meeting with democracy advocates and people from film, television, media, and government, including secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They also had a Today Show appearance with Judith McHale, the undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy.

There are links to the winning videos from 2009 here. There were over 900 entries from 95 countries.

Perhaps in recognition that many of the would-be entrants come from countries where such a discussion about democracy is not encouraged, next year’s contest will name a seventh, anonymous winner.

As noted on the State Department site:

“Last year’s entries were everything from animations and cartoons to webcam videos to High Definition movies. But it doesn’t matter what you submit, because just like last year, six regional winners will be selected by an online vote in the spring of 2010. (That’s right, even the competition is democratic.) Those winners get an all-expense paid trip to the United States to meet with film directors and democracy advocates and to tour film and television sets.”