Chad Hurley made $1.65 billion when he sold YouTube to Google, and now UH students can reap viral video rewards by entering an original short film in the CoogTube contest sponsored by the Student Programming Board and the University Center.
‘We have 5 categories and I think right now we have 18 submissions.’ We really hope we’re going to have a wave of late submissions.’ Scott Godley, graduate assistant for events and traditional programs at the UC, said. ‘There are a couple of categories that are very thin right now. If people are looking to win, we’re offering pretty good gift baskets, and the winner of each category gets a gift basket.’
Students can submit a piece in the Comic Relief, Houston’s Got Talent, Short and Sweet, You Know You’re a Cougar If’hellip; or the And the Oscar Goes To’hellip; categories.
The UC Events Committee will whittle the entries down to a group of finalistswhose videos will be posted on the UC website from Feb. 12 to 16 so the campus can cast its votes and crown the CoogTube champions.
‘The idea behind this is to help build student morale and encourage students to come out and show their creativity and personality,’ Godley said. ‘In a way it will help students become more aware of what the University Center has to offer. So many students on campus just see the University Center as a place to just go buy your books and go eat; the website brings to light other things we have here. Hopefully it will help people take advantage of their resources since they already pay for it in their fees.’
Along with the CoogTube finalists’ videos, visitors to the website can check the UH events calendar, learn of events held in the game room, find the times and location of karaoke Thursdays, mark their schedules for Shasta’s dollar cone days and more.
Also on the site are the rules and sign-up for CoogTube competitors and general information about the prize baskets, which include all-access passes to Houston’s WorldFest International Independent Film Festival valued at $100, tickets to the Improv Comedy Club, and The Angelika Film Center and much more.
Godley has some insider advice for students thinking of submitting their videos.
‘A lot of people are submitting for Comic Relief and the Houston’s Got Talent category, which is kind of like performing arts-type stuff,’ Godley said, ‘We have hardly any submissions for Short and Sweet, You Know You’re a Cougar If’hellip; and, And the Oscar Goes To. So if you really want to win I would go for those because the competition isn’t deep.’
Godley also said students should find a tripod to stabilize their cameras when they shoot videos.
‘You don’t want anybody getting motion sickness watching it,’ he said.
The deadline for submissions is Monday, so students shouldn’t wait on that call back from Al Pacino to get their entries in.
Videos containing nudity, profanity, sexual nature and racial slurs or stereotypes will be discarded.
All information concerning the competition can be found at the UC website, http://www.uh.edu/ucaf.
