And here’s one more: the Seeds of Tolerance Contest, a Current TV video contest.

Of almost 380 submissions, guest judges Edward Norton, M. Night Shyamalan, Paul Haggis, Jeffrey Wright, Melissa Etheridge, Margaret Cho, and Morgan Spurlock have chosen the top six videos about intolerance.

The grand prize winner will receive $100,000 in cash and an additional $15,000 to donate to the charity of his or her choice. Two finalists will also receive $10,000 a piece. The awards will be presented at a screening event in Los Angeles in December.

Joe Wilson, the producer of We Belong, one of the six Seeds of Tolerance semi-finalists, wrote me about this contest. About We Belong:

This is the story of two rural teens who had the courage to stand up to bigotry and intolerance in their schools – and the determination to tell their stories to the world.

Homophobia is one of the last “permissible” forms of prejudice. Its effects are especially acute for youth, who often suffer alone and in silence. Two thirds of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth experience harassment or violence in school, and the suicide rate for this group is four times the average.

When C.J. Bills is gay bashed in the school locker room, then arrested for disorderly conduct because he protests to an administrator about the harassment he has experienced, he decides to fight back by making a documentary about discrimination. With his family’s help, he also initiates an investigation by the state human rights commission and shames the school district into developing an anti-bullying and diversity training program.

C.J.’s documentary project also leads him to Tim Dahle, a former high school student who challenged the years of anti-gay harassment he suffered in a neighboring town. In Tim’s case, the school district that failed to protect him agreed to one of the largest sexual harassment settlements in history, sending a signal to school districts around the country that such behavior can be costly.

We Belong demonstrates that young people have the power to change their communities and the world, and that helping youth to tell their stories, in their own way and on camera, is enlightening, empowering, and effective.

You’ve got until 12:01am on December 2, 2006, to view all of the videos and cast your vote for your favorite.

You can find Maria on MySpace here and read her current call for essays on femme identity here. Pick up Queer Shorts, her new anthology, at MergePress.com.