YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia and WireTap are proud to announce the first ever Youth Media Blog-a-Thon to be held on Wednesday February 20th.

We are calling all young bloggers (between the ages of 14-26) – along with any bloggers dedicated to writing about youth issues and youth media – to blog on Feb. 20th about: Elections and the Youth Vote.

Give us your opinion on:
• Why is the youth vote garnering so much attention this year?
• Data shows the youth vote increased in almost all states, is this something you noticed in your own state? What did it look like?
• What are the most important issues facing young people: Is it the war, the economy, immigration, education, health care?
• What youth voter education group is doing the best work?
• Is voting relevant? Do you feel disenfranchised?
• Much of the debate around the primary election focused on race v. gender – what was your opinion on this?
• Do you think a new leader will make a difference?

If you are interested in being a part of the Youth Media Blog-a-Thon, please email Neelanjana Banerjee at nbanerjee@newamericamedia.org.

About: This is the first of a series of monthly Youth Media Blog-a-Thons that aims to virtually connect the youth media community by asking them to respond to one topic and to engage with each other. We hope that these monthly events will foster more dialogue between youth media leading to connectivity as media makers and as activists.

Confirmed Bloggers So Far:
YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia
WireTap Mag
Drop That Knowledge
Grits and Eggs
Ill-literacy
The Cheddar Box

Sponsoring Organizations:
For over 15 years, YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia has been a leader in youth-produced content in the Bay Area. Through our active website, YO!TV – a weekly 30-minute television show on local KBCW, and our weekly YO!Radio segments aired on KALW 91.7 Information Radio and 106.1 KMEL, YO! gives young people a voice on the issues they most care about. YO! content is also regularly syndicated in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Oakland Tribune and more. The YO! blog has been active for over a year.

WireTap is a national news and culture magazine by and for socially conscious youth. Our online community promotes social justice, inspires action and gives young people a voice in the media. Wiretap provides free, daily content to over 60,000 monthly visitors and 14,000 weekly newsletter subscribers. Our award-winning journalism and youth commentary is syndicated every week on the Nation.com, AlterNet.org and Chicago Sun Times, college papers, and hundreds of our stories get linked to in widely read blogs and websites from Mother Jones blog to Fear of a Brown Blogger to social networking site MyBloc.net.