• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 13, 2011

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity introduced Good Work, alongside YouTube, to give young advertising creative executives a way to give back. The contest, extended through May 15, asks nonprofits to create a brief that creative types can take and develop a message.

The creators of the messages will have 48 hours to design, produce and upload a 60-second video to support the nonprofit organization of their choosing. Between May 16 and 22, the videos need to rack up as many votes on YouTube as possible to help the creator win. Ad agencies will review the videos. The winning entry receives a free trip to Cannes in June for five winners, including hotel, flight, and pass.

Entrants must be between ages 19 and 28 on June 25, 2011. A team can work on the project, but only one person will attend the festival. The YouTube, Cannes Young Lions 48-hour ad contest is based on skill; participants must submit a video to YouTube that gives the best creative minds a chance to attend Cannes as part of the Young Lions competition.

Categories range from human rights to education, environment to art and culture, among others. The platform allows creators to view all briefs, as well as those already selected. For example, one brief submitted by Australian-based headspace.org.au describes the organization as a center for helping -- at no charge -- young people ages 12-25 who struggle with depression, anxiety, bullying or sexuality issues.

GCFLearnFree.org also created a brief to showcase its "quality, innovative online learning opportunities to anyone who wants to improve their technology, literacy and math skills." A supporting video claims 50 million American adults can't read beyond the fifth-grade level, and 42 million American adults can't read at all.

Judges include Keith Ho, executive creative director at Grey Hong Kong; Gerry Human, executive creative director at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide; Jens Mortier, partner and creative director, mortierbrigade; and Meera Sharath, executive creative Director U.K. at Momentum Worldwide.