About the Fringey Awards

Welcome to the second annual Fringey Web Trailer Awards!

We're VISI, the state's premier locally-owned cloud computing, data center services, and managed hosting provider -- and we're proud to produce and sponsor the Fringey Awards.

In a nutshell, each of the Fringe companies can upload one 60-second video trailer or preview for the show they'll be performing at the Minnesota Fringe - a trailer which they feel captures the essence of their performance in a less than a minute and a half. The trailer can be an excerpt from the performance itself, or not. It can be funny, dramatic, shocking or whimsical. It can be scripted, improvised or stream-of-conscious. It can feature live actors, original animation and music, or puppets. The only goal is: to communicate something compelling that makes people want to come out and see the show!

Meanwhile, the general public is invited to view and vote for their favorite uploaded Fringey videos from July 1st through August 4th. In fact, you can vote three times for your favorite Fringe trailers. Please encourage your fans, your family and friends to visit to vote for the best Fringey videos!

From our Fringey Web site, you'll have the opportunity to forward your favorite Fringey videos to your network of family, friends, co-workers. The goal is to expand awareness of the Minnesota Fringe shows virally, taking advantage of Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools.

The prizes? For every Minnesota Fringe performer, exposure for their show on the Fringey Web site is a bonus to the experience of performing in the Fringe. One lucky Fringe Festival performer or group of performers -- whose Fringey video gets the most online votes -- will receive the grand prize of $500 in cash, plus 12 months of free Web site hosting ($240 value) from VISI. Two runner-up finalists will receive a free year of Web site hosting ($240 value) from VISI.

Finally, be sure to attend as many Minnesota Fringe Festival performances as you can, in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Full show descriptions are available at www.fringefestival.org.