Research Firm Launches National Music Video Contest for Election '08 on June 15

Research Firm Launches National Music Video Contest for Election '08 on June 15

- Winning Republican and Democratic Video Each Receive $5K -

FLEMINGTON, N.J., June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- HCD Research announced today that it is partnering with the Tribune Company to host Ballads for Ballots 2008, a national music video contest on its mediacurves.com web site and on the Tribune Company's The Swamp web site. The Swamp is a politics and government news site/blog and one of the Tribune Company's top web sites.

(Logo:

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071204/NYTU133LOGO )

Fox Interactive will also be featuring the contest on its national web sites and examples of the music video entries will be played periodically on XM Radio.

Americans will be invited to submit music videos in support of the two presidential candidates or parties. Submissions will be accepted beginning June 15 on mediacurves.com and conclude on July 25. The first 100 qualified entries will receive $25 and become eligible for two Grand Prizes of $5,000 for the best Republican and Democrat video.

The contest will work like this:

-- Participants will submit 45 to 90-second original music videos or song
parodies to the mediacurves.com web site. The music videos will
support the Democratic or Republican parties or their presidential
candidates. The videos can be inspirational, fun and humorous.

-- Viewers will evaluate the music videos on mediacurves.com, the Tribune
Company's, The Swamp web site, and other national media outlets. The
top 15 videos for each party will be judged by a panel of noted
political personalities, who will select the top 3 videos for each
party. The panel of judges includes:

Flavia Monteiro Colgan, a Democratic strategist, who is an active
political contributor on MSNBC and a special correspondent for
Extra

Amanda Carpenter, political reporter for Townhall.com and author
of The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy's Dossier on Hillary Rodham
Clinton

Cathy Allen, president, The Connections Group, Inc. and
co-founder, Center for Women and Democracy

Robert B. Bluey, director of the Center for Media and Public
Policy at the Heritage Foundation

-- The top 3 videos for each party will be studied by mediacurves.com
panelists (a large national panel of opt in consumers) and two grand
prize winners will be selected -- one for each party. Each winner
will receive a $5,000 cash award.

The results of the evaluations will be posted on mediacurves.com and other national media outlets, during the last week in August.

Submissions of the music videos will begin June 15, 2008 and conclude on July 25. To register to receive submission information, go to: http://www.mediacurves.com/

The Media Curves web site provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans' perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements.

HCD Research is a communications research company headquartered in Flemington, NJ. The company's services include traditional and web-based marketing and communications research. For additional information on HCD Research, access the company's web site at www.hcdi.net or call HCD Research at 908-788-9393.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071204/NYTU133LOGO
AP Archive:

http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: HCD Research

CONTACT: Vince McGourty, HCD Research, +1-908-483-9121,
vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net

Web site:

http://www.hcdi.net/
http://www.mediacurves.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information on the contest, or to speak with Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research, please contact Vince McGourty, HCD Research, at (908) 483-9121 or (vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net).

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