If you read our post on monday about the EPA’s new regulation-themed video contest, you’ll know that there are a few people out there that feel that the government is basically trying to control our lives and government-sponsored video contests are just another one of their propaganda tools.  (check out the comments on this article about the contest to read the thoughts of some seriously pissed people)  Elsewhere on the web, a frequent video contester has even called for filmmakers to boycott the EPA contest.  I have seen tons of video contests run by government agencies (the EPA alone seems to do like one a month) so I’m really surprised that folks just noticed this was going on.  Common sense tells me that government agencies are going to receive X amount of dollars a year for PR no matter how much people complain.  If they’re going to spend the money, at least some of it will go to filmmakers if they hold video contests.  In fact…one could argue that government-run video contests actually SAVE taxpayers money.  For example, the EPA just ran a PSA contest about fireplace safety.  (you can watch the submissions )  The winner of that contest will get $2,500 and their video will actually air on tv around the country.

Do you know what that means?  It means the federal government was able to but a national PSA for the bargain basement price of just $2,500!  So the “Learn Before you Burn” contest sounds like a win-win-win situation to me.  The government gets to save 10′s of thousands of dollars on a PSA, a independent filmmaker gets a little cash and a lot of exposure and maybe a few more people won’t die in fires.

While we’re on the subject of contests sponsored by Big Brother, I thought I’d post there results of the “USA.GOV” contest.  It was held to increase awareness of what people can get done with USA.gov. Here’s the winner.  It’s pretty neat and features a catchy little tune:

First Place:  Prize: $2,500 of the taxpayers money