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First Person Arts Presents “First Person Impressions”

First Person Arts Presents “First Person Impressions”: National Memoir & Documentary Competition- Now Accepting Submissions through August 15th

First Person Arts, producer of the annual First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art, is pleased to announce First Person Impressions, a national competition for memoir and documentary artists. This year, First Person Arts invites artists to tackle the first person story through three artistic mediums: the written word, video and photography. Artists are challenged to find universality in the personal, make the exotic familiar, shock and amaze, or pause to reflect, all while crafting an engaging and true tale around a slice of real life. Everyone with a true story is encouraged to enter. [Submission guidelines follow below.]

Submissions for the competition are now being accepted through August 15th, 2008. All submissions will be reviewed by an internal panel of First Person Arts reviewers. The top ten finalists in all categories will be reviewed by a respected panel of independent experts in their respective fields including Daniel Jones (Editor, Modern Love, The New York Times), Amy Salit (Producer, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, WHYY-FM and National Public Radio), Laurence Kirshbaum (Founder and agent, LJK Literary and former CEO of Time Warner Book Group), Katherine Ware (Photography Curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art), Steven Rea (Film Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer), Samuel Adams (Contributing Editor, Philadelphia City Paper) and Ron Kanter (Emmy Award-winning director of New Cops, Acting Out, and Life and Death – Dawson, Georgia).

Winners will be notified on or before October 1st, 2008. Top prize winners in each category will be invited to present their work at the 7th Annual First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art (November 12-16th, 2008) and all finalists will have their work featured on the First Person Arts website (http://www.firstpersonarts.org). Each first place winner will receive a $500 cash prize; second and third place winners will receive prizes of $100 and $50 respectively. Winners will have their selections published in Philadelphia City Paper and CityPaper.net, SMITH Magazine (http://www.smithmag.net), and The Photo Review (http://www.photoreview.org).

First Person Arts is guided by the belief that the sharing of personal experience is a powerful way for people to celebrate uniqueness, bridge differences, and find common ground. For more information, please visit http://www.firstpersonarts.org.

Competition Submission Guidelines

Submission Process

All materials must be received by Friday, August 15th. Applications are available online at http://www.impressions.firstpersonarts.org. To enter, fill out an application form with name, contact information, and a short biography. Send completed application, and submission(s) following the guidelines below for each category, in addition to a $10 submission fee per entry, payable online via Google Checkout. Visit http://www.impressions.firstpersonarts.org for additional payment instructions. All entries must be new, original works that have not been previously published, exhibited, or screened in the US.

Photography: Email your photograph(s) as an attachment with the subject line “First Person Impressions Photography” to . Single images are welcome; multiple images must be related and presented in a photo essay (five image maximum). Mailed submissions will not be accepted; however, winners should be prepared to ship or deliver a framed, matted, physical copy of the image(s) to be exhibited at the Festival.

Essays: Email your personal essay of 1500 words or less as an attachment in a Word document format (.doc) with the subject line “First Person Impressions Essay” to . Mailed submissions will not be accepted.

Videos: Post your video of 5 minutes or less privately at http://www.viddler.com, and send us an invitation to view the film to or mail a DVD of your video to:

First Person Arts

Attn: First Person Impressions

One South Broad Street, 17th Floor

Philadelphia, PA 19107

Submission deadline for all categories is August 15th, 2008.

Winners will be notified by October 1st, 2008.

Contact: