Linux Foundation Announces 2011 Video Contest: Linux Creator Linus Torvalds to Pick Best 20th Anniversary Video

Annual video contest will celebrate 20 years of Linux, “Father of Linux” to choose the best among community favorites

SAN FRANCISCO {The Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit} – April 6, 2011 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced its 2011 Video Contest: the 20th Anniversary of Linux. This is the third year The Linux Foundation has hosted the contest, which is an evolution of the original “We’re Linux” video competition.

This year’s contest will commemorate the 20th anniversary of Linux by seeking the best user-generated videos that celebrate Linux while demonstrating the impact of the operating system on computing, business and/or culture over the last 20 years and today.

The Linux Foundation today is also releasing an exclusive video to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Linux and to inspire others to submit their own videos for the contest. “The Story of Linux” is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ocq6_3-nEw.

The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, will choose the best video among the community favorites in this year’s competition. Torvalds first released Linux to the public in 1991 in what have become a series of famous postings (http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.minix/msg/b813d52cbc5a044b?pli=1). Today he is a Fellow at The Linux Foundation and remains the ultimate authority on what new code is accepted in the standard Linux kernel.

This will be the first time that Torvalds has judged the entries. During the first two years of the contest, judging panels were used to review submissions and surface the ultimate winner. Previous judges have included notable industry personalities such as Larry Augustin, Andrew Morton and Tim O’Reily, among others.

The winner of this year’s 20th Anniversary of Linux Video Contest will win airfare, registration and hotel expenses to attend one of the following events of their choice: LinuxCon North America, LinuxCon Europe, SXSW 2012 or the LA Film Festival.

Video submissions must be received by 12:01 a.m. PDT on Saturday, July 2 2011. To increase your odds of winning and to submit your video, please visit The Linux Foundation’s video website for guidance on video submissions and the contest rules: http://video.linux.com/20th-anniversary-video-contest.

“The story of Linux has many chapters and there are literally no limits on how the operating system will innovate in the future. We’re looking forward to seeing how people choose to illustrate the impact Linux is having on computing and our society,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at The Linux Foundation. “This year’s winning video will help mark the 20th anniversary of Linux and the creator of the video will be especially honored as the winner chosen by none other than Linus.”

Previous Winners of The Linux Foundation’s Video Contest
In 2010, the contest invited participants to design an ad spot that would be worthy of running during the commercial-rich Super Bowl. The winning video put Linux in the context of the broader “green” movement, was titled “Go Linux” and was created by Anthony Stellato: http://video.linux.com/video/1696.

In its debut year, the video contest called on participants to consider the popular “I’m a Mac; I’m a PC” commercials and create their own videos to promote Linux. The concept was based on the idea that while Apple and Microsoft have billions of dollars in advertising budgets, Linux had the power of crowds. The winning video, by Amitay Tweeto and titled “What Does it Mean to Be Free,” was an inspirational piece that communicated the ideals of the open source operating system: http://video.linux.com/video/1106.

For more information on this year’s other 20th Anniversary of Linux celebrations, please visit: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/20th

About The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2000, the organization sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and promotes, protects and advances the Linux operating system by marshaling the resources of its members and the open source development community. The Linux Foundation provides a neutral forum for collaboration and education by hosting Linux conferences including LinuxCon, and generating original Linux research and content that advances the understanding of the Linux platform. Its web properties, including Linux.com, reach approximately two million people per month. The organization also provides extensive Linux training opportunities that feature the Linux kernel community’s leading experts as instructors. Follow The Linux Foundation on Twitter.

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Trademarks: The Linux Foundation, Linux Standard Base, MeeGo and Yocto Project are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.