Finalists announced for Digital Graffiti Festival at Alys Beach

ALYS BEACH - Finalists have been chosen to be shown as part of the Digital Graffiti projection art festival to be held in Alys Beach on Labor Day weekend.

Sometimes referred to as "photon bombing" or "urban projection," underground artists around the globe have started using the latest technologies to project original video art onto skyscrapers and other structures, as a means of creative expression. But no outdoor event has ever been organized before to celebrate these artists.

Works submitted by the following 23 digital artists and teams have been selected to be projected during the festival:

- Ian Aleksander Adams (Savannah, Ga.)

- Dawn Chapman Anderson (Seaside)

- Bryan Beasley (Santa Rosa Beach)

- Alan Becker (Ohio)

- Donna Callighan (Stamford, Conn.)

- George Cannon (Trumansburg, N.Y.)

- Sean Capone (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

- Cornerstone Marketing & Advertising (Santa Rosa Beach)

- Adam Hayes Fisher (Santa Rosa Beach)

- Garrett Horn (Seagrove)

- Philip Scott Johnson (St Louis, Mo.)

- Dottie King (Pensacola)

- Clemens Kogler (Linza, Austria)

- Florian Kuhlmann (Dusseldorf, Germany)

- Mollie Murphy (Princeton, N.J.)

- Alessandro Perini (Cucciago, Italy)

- Alexander Reyna (New York, N.Y.)

- Sumit Roy (New Delhi, India)

- Janis Sawyer (Seaside)

- Mauritius Seeger (London, United Kingdom)

- Robert Seidel (Jena, Germany)

- James Sumpter (Santa Rosa Beach)

- Michael Wyshock (Oneonta, N.Y.)

The artists will compete for $6,500 in cash prizes, including a $2,500 Best of Show award sponsored by Alys Beach, and a $1,000 Best Local Artist award sponsored by www.30A.com. A special $1,000 prize will also be awarded to the best entry with an environ-mental theme.

In addition to fractals, digital animations and other video art, event organizers also received hundreds of compelling images from photographers around the world. A special $500 prize will be awarded to the best still-photography submission. A special wall will feature projected images submitted by the following photographers:

- Lyndsey Battle (Eureka, Calif.)

- David Bean (Nashville, Tenn.)

- Bethany Brown (Pensacola)

- John Daniels (Panama City)

- Jessica Judkins (Seagrove)

- Sally Mankus (Shalimar)

- Eric Marcus (Santa Rosa Beach)

- Chad Martin (Birmingham, Ala.)

- Jake Meyer (Santa Rosa Beach)

- Romona Robbins (Fort Walton Beach)

- Shelly Swanger (Santa Rosa Beach)

- Angel Vance (Santa Rosa Beach)

- Marcus Walton (Santa Rosa Beach)

The festival will be hosted by several celebrity and industry judges, including Alan Hunter, MTV's very first VJ and co-founder of the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival; Terry Slaughter, president of the award-winning Slaughter Group, a strategic design and branding firm based in Birmingham, Ala.; Brett Phares, a professor of interactive media at Marist College in New York; and Warren Heaton, an award-winning digital artist in Los Angeles, whose film, video and interactive media projects include such clients as Adobe, Microsoft, and Walt Disney Imagineering.

The festival will be held on Aug. 30 from 7 to11 pm. In the event of inclement weather, the event will be held on Aug. 31.

For information browse www.alysbeach.com/DG or e-mail events@alysbeach.com.