"We created the Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival to support and encourage more independent work distributed on new platforms,” said Independent Lens Series Producer Lois Vossen. “We chose these [winning] shorts because they demonstrate great promise by two emerging filmmakers; both are exemplary of the kinds of stories we feature on Independent Lens."

The grand prizewinners: PARIS, 1951 and SOMEDAY FLOWERS BLOOM, were selected by the curators of PBS television series Independent Lens, simultaneously, an esteemed jury of industry professionals selected the online winners, with HOMELESS KARAOKE picked as the jurors’ choice.

Meet the first-ever jury of the Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival, by reading their bios below.

The Jury

Tiffany Shlain Honored as one of Newsweek's "Women Shaping the 21st Century," Tiffany Shlain, is an acclaimed filmmaker and speaker, director of The Moxie Institute and founder of The Webby Awards. At The Moxie Institute, a think tank and media company, she creates, develops and distributes films and discussion programs about social issues using new approaches and emerging technologies. Tiffany’s recent film, The Tribe enlists pop icon Barbie to tackle the challenging issue of Jewish identity. Her previous films include Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness, a powerful exploration of women’s rights in America. She is currently developing a feature film and art installation work that investigates how changes in sexual reproduction via nature, culture, politics or science have far reaching consequences in the complex global ecology. In 1996, Tiffany founded The Webby Awards, the leading international honors for Web sites. The Webby Awards have become a global institution attracting entries from more than 40 countries and all 50 states. In 1998, she co-founded The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, the 550-member organization that currently honors the best of the Web. www.tiffanyshlain.com

Sharat Raju Sharat Raju recently earned a Masters Degree in Directing at the American Film Institute. His thirty minute thesis film, AMERICAN MADE (Independent Lens, 2006), earned both of AFI’s top two honors and has gone on to screen at nearly forty festivals around the world, claiming seventeen awards. In September 2004, Sharat appeared in Esquire magazine as a film school graduate to watch. Before AFI, he worked as a casting assistant on numerous feature films including 8 Mile, Matrix Revolutions and Matrix Reloaded. Sharat is currently on an international tour with his first documentary feature, Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath.

Byron Hurt Byron Hurt is the director/producer of HIP-HOP: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, an in-depth film about sexism, violence and homophobia in rap music and hip-hop culture (Independent Lens debut, February 2007.) The New York-based producer has won acclaim for his award-winning underground classic documentary I Am A Man: Black Masculinity in America and Moving Memories: The Black Senior Video Yearbook. A former Northeastern University football star and long-time gender violence prevention educator, Byron was the associate director and founding member of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, the leading college-based rape and domestic violence prevention initiative for professional athletics. He is also the former associate director of the first gender violence prevention program in the United States Marine Corps.

Mark Glaser Mark Glaser is a longtime freelance journalist whose career includes columns on hip-hop, reviews of videogames, travel stories and humor pieces that poked fun at the titans of technology. He now writes the first blog for PBS.org called MediaShift, which looks at how technology is changing our media world. Mark wrote a weekly column for USC Annenberg School of Communication's Online Journalism Review and still writes the OPA Intelligence Report email newsletter for the Online Publishers Association. Mark has written essays for Harvard's Nieman Reports and the Web site for the Yale Center for Globalization.

Mark Eitzel As both a solo artist and the front man for enduring cult favorite American Music Club, Mark Eitzel established himself among the truly powerful forces in contemporary music earning notoriety as a composer, combining the energy of punk, the pastoral beauty of folk and the melodrama of lounge music. Mark has been an indie icon for two decades. After 12 years with American Music Club, he went solo in 1996, issuing a string of lauded albums that include 60 Watt Silver Lining. He reunited with AMC in 2003 for Love Songs for Patriots, and his latest projects are called Mark Eitzel and All the Lost Anchors of the Pacific Ocean and the MacArthur Park Music Club. www.markeitzel.com

Scott Dwyer Scott Dwyer has worked in public broadcasting for the past 25 years and is currently in charge of programming for all six of KQED’s television channels. He screens, evaluates, acquires and schedules all television programs, including many program acquisitions by independent and international filmmakers. Scott has served on many funding panels and as an advisor for the Sesame Workshop and the P.O.V. documentary series. As a producer of Imagemakers, KQED’s short film series, he attends and serves on panels at Aspen Shortsfest, Palm Springs, Toronto Worldwide, Cinema Jove (Spain) and Clermont-Ferrand (France) International Short Film Festivals. Scott received his Bachelor of Arts (Communication Arts: Television & Film) from the University of Wisconsin. www.kqed.org Watch the Online Shorts Festival winners >>