Librarian Betsy Bird, author James Kennedy, and the New York Public Library have launched a 90-Second Newbery Video contest. Fans off the prestigious Newbery Medal-winning books have until September 15, 2011 to enter the contest.
Here’s more about the contest: “So here’s our contest, open to anyone: make a video that compresses the story of a Newbery award-winning book into 90 seconds or less. It turns out that any book, no matter how worthy and somber, becomes pleasingly ludicrous when compressed into 90 seconds. Please watch our very first entry, in the video above: a 90-second version of A Wrinkle in Time (1963). We’re planning a star-studded 90-Second Newbery Film Festival at the New York Public Library in Fall of 2011.”
According to Alice Pope, the contest is a response to a Today Show snub: “For the first time in 11 years, the TODAY SHOW did not interview the Newbery and Caldecott winners after the awards were announced.” Jersey Shore star Snooki appeared on the program instead, drawing criticism around the literary Internet.