Flying Sparks

** Attention: minor edits on August 31st, concerning the presentation of ideas in this contest**

The book and media industry is currently experiencing a rapid structural change: New technology has changed the way in which content is delivered allowing for new storytelling opportunities. Readers are no longer passive participants, they can now be actively involved with a story. Content is no longer bound to a certain medium in the digital world. Creative industries, who used to work independently from each other, are now converging to give readers and content users an engaging experience. The entire value chain of publication; from creation, through production to marketing has changed.

The Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest ‘book fair’ with over 150,000 visitors attending every year. Last year, 7,300 exhibitors from 100 countries introduced their book and services to the general public and professionals alike. In addition, ebooks, DVDs, comics, software, crosswords and illustrations constitute a large percent of the exhibitions. The trade portion of the fair is supplemented by lectures, book readings, award ceremonies and discussion panels attended by renowned authors and respected industry players. The Frankfurt Book Fair is thus both a trade show for print and other media as well as a forum for inter-cultural dialogue about the health and future of publishing in all its forms.
This year, The Frankfurt Book Fair is promoting Frankfurt SPARKS. Frankfurt SPARKS is a digital initiative that addresses the ever changing and converging landscape of the publishing and media industries. It aims to be the spark necessary to ignite relationships between representatives of the various sectors (media, publishing and the internet culture) and encourage sustainable business partnerships. The current projects of SPARKS can be viewed here: http://frankfurtsparks.com/

Aim/Goal:
Frankfurt Book Fair has approached jovoto with a unique challenge. Their belief is that stories can be created employing a broad range of media, channels and technologies. Your task will be to create a great story told via any media, or combination of media.

Tell/Design a story using the media of your choice.  You can choose any topic and any genre. The story can be funny, serious, lurid or subtle, thrilling or dramatic. Any genre that you feel has potential or that interests you can be submitted. The aim of the contest is to demonstrate that, besides the „traditional“ way of storytelling in printed or electronic form, stories can also be told across a range of mediums.  Your choices may include, but are not limited to: pictures, videos, blogs, games, apps, internet forums, events, SMS applications, comics.

There are two ways to participate at this contest:

1) submit only a story, a "story spark". You will need to be able to present it using jovoto's platform tools.

2) TAKE a story spark and turn it into a cross-media conncept - complete with images, text description and links if necessary to illustrate the concept.  For this purpose, The Frankfurt Book Fair co-operates with the "Text-Manufaktur“ - a school for authors - whose attendees have stated submitting such Story Sparks for you to take up and develop further.

The terms of a collaboration should be negotiated prior to working on a submission. jovoto’s recommendation is that the prize be split as follows: one third going to the story author and the other two thirds to the media-based storyteller. Any artist/designer submitting work should have written approval to use stories they are not the authors of.

Special Features:
The Frankfurt Book Fair provides free tickets for all contestants!

Winning ideas and ideas selected by the client shall be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The authors of these stories will be given the opportunity to discuss their ideas with representatives of publishing houses in the hope of having them ‘published’.
   
We will keep you updated about where and when the winning designs will be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Your idea should be presented in such a way that it earns the interest of publishing houses and media producers. The story itself should be written for its intended target audience.

• Anything goes (depends largely on your story)

Important note: Please don't try to upload text files or PDF.  If you wish to submit a story spark:  here is how you present your idea:1. 1 or 2 images to illustrate the story (must be .png or .jpg format, these can be for example title page or cover of your short story)
2. Short version (perhaps 2-3 paragraphs) of your story, to be copied into the idea description text field
3. Download link to a complete version of your story
4. Name your idea using the convention: Story Spark + Title + Genre

Useful links:

• http://storydrivefrankfurt.com/
• http://storydrivefrankfurt.com/conference/ (conference program StoryDrive)
• http://hotspotfrankfurt.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYU09jKUqLY

Click on the following links to download working material and additional information related to the project.

• Facts and Figures
• Inspirations