[caption id="attachment_1552" align="alignright" width="295" caption="Turku 2011/Philip Photographer"][/caption]

Turku, the European Capital of Culture for 2011, has initiated the world's largest media art and new media competition. Call for artists and content producers working in digital format to enter in eight categories.  Prizes totalling 140,000 Euros.

Live2011.com Grand Prix invites artists and content producers working in the digital format to enter the competition in eight different categories, with a combined total value of prizes worth more than 140,000 euro. The founder of Linux operating system, Linus Torvalds, has committed himself to be the official patron of the digital Capital of Culture and the Live2011.com Grand Prix.

One of the aims of the Live2011.com Grand Prix is to highlight and support the growing field of digital media, and to emphasise the significance of social media in interacting with others and forming a sense of community. By introducing this challenge, Turku 2011 wishes to recognize and promote the importance of established annual media art events, such as Prix Ars Electronica and EMAF, whose work over the years and its significance to the field is most central.

Any work entered in the competition will be presented to the global audience online through Capital of Culture’s Live2011.com site, and live at different media events and in Turku during the Capital of Culture year.

The competition categories cover a broad spectrum within the fields of media and new media, including for example, free audiovisual expression, interactive works and games. The category with the largest total prize sum (Viral Web Community Application, 40,000 euro) is looking to award innovative viral web community applications.

As our digital Capital of Culture, Live2011.com is a social media community that will be built around the theme of culture and is expected to continue to thrive long after the Capital of Culture year has ended. In terms of its extent and content, Live2011.com will provide a unique meeting place for producers, creators and participators utilising digital media formats.

Turku is the 2011 European Capital of Culture. Live2011.com adds to the attainment of the year's programme and creates new outlets for experimentation, participation and creation. At the same time, it serves as a platform to further increase the visibility and internationality of digital content producers.