One Week Left to Define Democracy and Win Access to D.C. and Hollywood

We live in a time of rapid technological and political change. Groundbreaking technologies give more people more access to information than ever before. Citizens have the means to broadcast their ideas to the world with the click of a few buttons. And increased adoption of the Internet by citizens and political and media leaders have made our public dialogue more diverse than ever before. Amidst all this change, the question of, "What is Democracy", is more relevant now than ever before. And there's just one week left for you to upload your answer, in YouTube's partnership with the State Department's Democracy Video Challenge.

As we found out during the first Democracy Video Challenge, the answer to that question of just what democracy is varies greatly depending on where you're from. Over 900 people from over 95 countries weighed in with their definitions of Democracy - here are the videos from the finalists:

Just like last year, the winners in 2010 will be determined by an international jury, and then by votes from the YouTube community. The prize is impressive: six regional finalists will receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York, and Los Angeles to meet with filmmakers and government officials for conversations and film trainings. Here's a clip of the meeting the winners had with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.