Jackie Chan invites you to be a Citizen Ambassador to the UN; just three weeks left to enter

[Citizen Ambassadors]

3 August 2010
Press Release

Submissions to the “Citizen Ambassadors” video contest on the UN
Channel on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) will end in three weeks,
on 23 August 2010.

A final call-for-entries for the 2010 contest, featuring UNICEF
Goodwill Ambassador and world-famous actor Jackie Chan, has been
posted on the UN Channel on YouTube, calling for video submissions on
the theme of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Citizen Ambassadors video contest utilizes new media and social
networking websites to engage a new global audience on the work of the
United Nations. The innovative contest, organized by the Department of
Public Information, represents a rare opportunity for citizens of the
world to speak to world leaders and engage in a global dialogue by
making personal video messages and uploading them to the UN Channel on
YouTube.

As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “The Millennium Development
Goals are about improving the lives of everyday people around the
globe; this contest is about giving a voice to those who want to make
a difference.”

In addition to the Secretary-General and Mr. Chan, noted celebrities
and public figures such as United Nations Messengers of Peace Stevie
Wonder and Princess Haya; UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors Angelique Kidjo,
Youssou N’Dour and Leo Messi have appeared in call-for-entries videos
to raise awareness of the contest and the MDGs, a set of eight
internationally-agreed targets designed to bring concrete results by
2015 in the fields of poverty, hunger, disease, maternal and child
deaths, education, gender equality and sustainability.

In addition, in an effort to increase access to the contest in
developing nations for the 2010 contest, the Department of Public
Information established a unique partnership with the United Nations
Foundation and Cisco’s Flip Video, which provided fifty-two Flip Video
cameras to United Nations Information Centres (UNICs) throughout the
world,. These UNICs can assist interested individuals without access
to adequate technology or a video camera in preparing and uploading
their video message at one of the participating Centres. For a list of
UNICs around the world, please see: http://unic.un.org/factsheet/

The six 2010 winners will be selected based on the merit, originality
and creativity of their videos about the meaning and importance of the
MDGs in their own lives and in those of their families and
communities. The results of the contest will be announced in late
September 2010, designating six winners as the 2010 Citizen
Ambassadors to the United Nations.

The 2010 Citizen Ambassadors, representing all regions of the world,
will win a trip to New York City for UN Day 2010 in October, courtesy
of the United Nations’ Department of Public Information. During their
visit, the winners will get to meet Secretary-General Ban, take a
special tour of UN Headquarters and attend the UN Day Concert in the
General Assembly Hall as VIP guests of the United Nations.

The six 2010 winners will also receive a customized Flip Cam Mino HD,
generously provided by the United Nations Foundation and with kind
support from Flip Video, so they may continue documenting their
communities’ efforts to achieve the MDGs by 2015, and to share their
stories with the world.

For further information, please contact Einat Temkin, Outreach
Division, Department of Public Information, at tem...@un.org; tel. +1
(917) 367-5841; or visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/unitednations

Official campaign website: http://www.uncitizenambassadors.org
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CitizenAmbassadors
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/CitizenAmbs2UN