ThinkMTV, Seventeen Magazine & Declare Yourself Team Up to Energize America's Youth to Register & Vote

ThinkMTV, Seventeen Magazine & Declare Yourself Team Up to Energize America's Youth to Register & Vote

'In the Time it Takes' Viral Video Competition to Award Winner with Trip & VIP Tickets to Star-Studded 'Young Hollywood' Party

Think.MTV.com, Seventeen.com & Declareyourself.com Debut New Voting Videos Starring Lauren, Audrina and Whitney of 'The Hills'

NEW YORK, April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on momentum established in primaries and caucuses across the country - where the youth vote has regularly doubled, tripled and even quadrupled compared to past elections - ThinkMTV, Seventeen Magazine and Declare Yourself today kicked off a new effort to help mobilize every eligible young American to register and vote.

Officially launching on today's episode of TRL and in the May issue of Seventeen (on newsstands now), the new "In the Time it Takes" competition challenges young people to develop a less than 90 second viral video showing how quick, easy and painless it is to register to vote. The individual who submits the best entry will get a trip for two to LA and VIP passes to Declare Yourself's celebrity-packed "Young Hollywood" party, taking place this September. Two first prize runners-up will also get hooked up with $500 gift certificates to American Eagle Outfitters and a special edition Declare Yourself-American Eagle "Vote" t-shirt signed by Lauren, Audrina and Whitney of MTV's mega-hit "The Hills."

The competition is being run through Think.MTV.com, MTV's online community where young people, their friends and some of the biggest names in pop culture come together to bring about positive change. To show everyone how little time it takes to register to vote, Seventeen and Declare Yourself have created PSAs starring Lauren Conrad and the girls of "The Hills," available on Seventeen.com and Think.MTV.com/Seventeen. All young people are encouraged to log on, check 'em out and then upload their own to the Think community.

Declare Yourself (Think.MTV.com/DeclareYourself) is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-year-old in America to register and vote in the presidential primaries and 2008 presidential election. Founded by legendary TV writer and producer Norman Lear, the group registered well over 1.2 million people in the 2004 and 2006 elections - and has joined forces with MTV as the exclusive voter registration partner of "Choose or Lose '08." Declare Yourself's last "Young Hollywood" party was emceed by Hayden Panettiere of NBC's "Heroes," and featured Justin Timberlake, Lauren Conrad, Heidi Montag, Romeo, Kristin Bell, Chester Bennington, lead vocalist of Linkin Park, who joined Camp Freddy members Chris Chaney, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins of Jane's Addiction and Billy Morrison of The Cult. Afterward, guests danced the night away as actor/rapper/comedian Nick Cannon spun as special guest DJ; the September party promises to be a similar can't-miss affair.

Launched in 2007, the Think MTV Community is an online destination where young people and a host of stars, including Bono, Common, Pete Wentz, and Alicia Keys; Presidential candidates; and organizations like Malaria No More, PlayPumps and the Friendship News Network, to name a few, are uniting to bring about positive social change in their communities and beyond. "Choose or Lose '08" (www.ChooseorLose.com) is the latest installment of MTV's Emmy-winning campaign to engage, educate and empower young voters. First launched in 1992, the campaign has helped fuel several of the largest youth voter turnouts in US history, including in 2004, when it helped inspire nearly 22 million 18-30 year olds to register and vote.

About ThinkMTV

ThinkMTV is the umbrella for MTV's on-air, off-air and online pro-social campaigns that engage, educate and encourage young people to take action on some of the biggest challenges facing their generation. The backbone for MTV's pro-social efforts is Think.MTV.com, an online community where young people, their friends and some of the biggest names in pop culture come together to effect positive social change. The Think Community is dynamic, multimedia-driven and enables youth to easily learn more about the issues that matter to them most, share their opinions - via uploaded online videos, podcasts and blogs - and connect with others to make a difference. The site is one of the only to reward members for positive actions taken online or off, serving up chances to hang out with socially conscious celebs, access to exclusive MTV events, exposure on MTV and other national media outlets, as well as grants, scholarships and more. Think.MTV.com was founded in partnership with the Case Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Goldhirsh Foundation and MCJ Amelior Foundation. For more information or to build a profile and become involved, visit Think.MTV.com.

About Seventeen Magazine

Seventeen (www.seventeen.com) is the best-selling monthly teen magazine, reaching more than 13 million readers every month. In each issue, Seventeen reports on the latest in fashion, beauty, health and entertainment, as well as information and advice on the complex real-life issues that young women face every day. Readers can also interact with the brand on the digital front, with Seventeen mobile (m.seventeen.com). In addition to its U.S. flagship, Seventeen publishes 15 editions around the world. Seventeen is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) and one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, with nearly 200 editions around the world, including 19 U.S. titles and 20 magazines in the United Kingdom, published through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines (74.1 million total adults, according to MRI, spring 07).

About Declare Yourself

Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to encourage every eligible 18-29-year-old in America to register and vote in the presidential primaries and 2008 presidential election. Using the power of strategic media partnerships, celebrity spokespeople, the sports arena, and most importantly, mobile and Internet technology, Declare Yourself's campaign blankets the landscape of popular culture, as well as universities and high schools, with a simple, clear message: REGISTER and VOTE!

For the 2008 primary season and general election, Declare Yourself is enlisting an unprecedented array of partners including Cricket Wireless, Yahoo!, MySpace, Google, UWIRE, Good Magazine, Clear Channel, Comedy Central, American Eagle Outfitters, Harper Collins, Starbucks, and Voto Latino. Easy registration is available through www.declareyourself.com or by texting VOTE to 55355 on your mobile phone.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: ThinkMTV

CONTACT: Jason Rzepka of MTV, +1-212-654-7198,
Jason.Rzepka@mtvstaff.com; Jessica Pollack of Seventeen, +1-212-649-2619,
jrpollack@hearst.com; Marc Morgenstern of Declare Yourself, +1-310-385-4023,
marcm@declareyourself.com

Web site:

http://www.mtv.com/
http://think.mtv.com/
http://think.mtv.com/Seventeen
http://think.mtv.com/DeclareYourself
http://www.chooseorlose.com/
http://www.declareyourself.com/
http://www.hearst.com/
http://m.seventeen.com/

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