Just in time for the Oscars , Magisto — the personal video storytelling platform — and Netted by the Webbys — curators of excellence on the Internet — announce an open invitation to join the first annual "SmartPhonies: One-Minute Movie Awards." From "would-be" Hollywood directors to the average smartphone videographer, all are invited to create their own movie magic with a one-minute video story using Magisto. The competition will take place from Feb. 22 to March 11, 2013.
Five SmartPhonies finalists in four categories — Humor; Pets; Action Sports; and Wild Card — will be chosen by the editorial staff at Netted by the Webbys. The public's vote will ultimately decide the winner for each category. Those interested in participating should visit http://netted.net/magisto/ beginning today, Feb. 22.
Winners' movies will be featured by Magisto and Netted by the Webbys on all of their digital platforms and across both organizations' social media footprint, reaching an estimated audience of one million people. Victors of each category will also be awarded a SmartPhonie Award in the form of a commemorative Google Nexus 7 tablet.
To accentuate the Smartphonies Awards, Magisto has introduced a new theme called "Roaring 20's." This treatment transforms a user's movie to appear as if it were created in the 1920s during the inception of motion picture industry.
"We are continuously astounded by the creativity and dramatic impact of our users' movies," said Reid Genauer, CMO of Magisto. "Our community of creators deserves a platform to be recognized and celebrated. Netted and The Webbys are perfect partners because they really are arbiters of creativity and design in digital media, and their audience reflects their sophistication and curiosity."
"Magisto users generated more than four million movies in 2012," said Dan Murphy, General Manager of Netted by the Webbys. "That scale of movie-making deserves to be acknowledged. We have a honed point-of-view on digital media and we thought it would be fun to apply our editorial lens to mobile movie making."
To enter, participants must first download Magisto on their smartphone or sign up for the service on their computer and make their movie. All a user has to do to be considered as a potential finalist is to include the phrase "#win" in the title of their movie. Submissions will be accepted Feb. 22 to Feb. 28.
Netted by the Webbys editorial staff will chose the finalists from the top 100 most viewed and liked movies which will then be voted on by the public. The finalists will be announced on March 4. Voting will take place at http://netted.net/magisto/ beginning March 4 through March 10, and winners will be notified and announced on March 11.
