Join youth from all over NYC for Emoti-Con! on June 14!

On Saturday, June 14, 2014, over 150 New York City-area youth will gather at the Bartos Forum at the Fifth Avenue Library for the sixth annual Emoti-Con! NYC Youth Digital Media and Technology Challenge. The day will include:

• a science fair-style competition for technology & digital media projects created by by youth
• awards across several categories for exceptional projects
• great professional speakers, and
• catered lunch and cool giveaways for all!

This is your chance to show off awesome projects that you've worked on this year in Mouse Squad! Projects that are a good fit for Emoti-Con! include digital media projects (like podcasts, videos, graphic design projects), web-based projects (like websites, video games, and apps), physical computing projects (things with moving parts or blinking lights), and remixes/hacks/mashups (projects that use content that already existed in a new & exciting way).

This event is open to youth from different programs all over NYC (and particularly from Hive NYC programs), so we need your Squad to represent Mouse!

What You Need to Know:

• WHEN: Saturday, June 14. Students presenting projects arrive at 11am to set up, and audience members arrive at 11:30am.
• WHERE: The Bartos Forum at the 5th Avenue Library in Manhattan, entrance on W. 42nd Street between 5th & 6th Avenues - see a map.
• WHO: Youth in grades 6-12 are invited to present projects at Emoti-Con! Each group of presenters may have up to 2 adult chaperones. If you don't have a project to present but would like to attend, please register as "Youth Audience." If your group has more than 2 adult chaperones, additional chaperones should register as "Adult Audience." Please note that if you register as an audience member your space is not guaranteed, as priority goes to presenters. More details available on the registration page.
• SIGN UP: Register at emoticon2014.eventbrite.com. Please register as a group--talk to your Mouse Squad Coordinator about getting signed up!
• YOUR REGISTRATION FORM MATTERS: The registration form includes important questions about your project(s) that the panel of judges will review as a part of the judging process to gain a better understanding of your work, so you should plan to answer these questions as a team. (If you need to update your answers after you register, you can!)
• WHAT ELSE: The day includes lunch for everyone, swag bags with fun giveaways, and roundtrip MetroCards for Mouse Squad students!
• COORDINATORS: Please collect Mouse photo release/waivers from all students who will be attending. Every attendee will also need to bring a signed copy of NYPL's waiver on June 14, as well -- you will receive this form after you register at the link above.

Get Ready:

If you're planning to present a project at Emoti-Con!, you'll need to bring your project, bring anything you need to display it, and be ready to talk about it! If you're entering your project in the competition, you should also prepare a short pitch--if you're selected as a finalist, you will be presenting your project to everyone at Emoti-Con! Either way, make sure you read the "To Prepare" section of the registration page.

Last year, two groups of Mouse Corps students won prizes! Read all about the projects and their big wins here.

Prizes & Glory!

Five finalists will be selected from the projects in the competition, and each finalist will be awarded one of these prizes: Most Potential for Social Impact, Most Entertaining, Best Pitch, Most Innovative, and the Point of View Award. One of the finalists will also walk away with the trophy for Crowd Favorite!

So register today--we hope to see you there!

Learn more and stay in touch with Emoti-Con!: