Team Latin America walked away as winner of the ENGINE ROOM, an original, short-form online series in which four teams of digital artists from around the world showcased their cutting-edge digital art skills in a bid to win $400,000, programming control of MTV's high-definition screen in Times Square for a night, HP technology products and global bragging rights.
Since the series began, the ENGINE ROOM website has received thousands of viewer portfolios from artists around the world, forming an online haven for digital artists. In the season finale, host SuChin Pak announced a new challenge for viewers to submit designs for an HP notebook PC.
During each week of the series, the 16 ENGINE ROOM contestants used HP gear to accelerate creativity and amplify how digital technology can bring art to life -- from animation, filmmaking and sound mixing to web and graphic design. Each challenge showcased the teams' talents and made for an intense head-to-head competition, with Team Latin America -- Fred Lammie (Panama), Enrico Martin (Ecuador), Rey Ortiz (Puerto Rico) and Luis Salcedo (Brazil) -- capturing the grand prize with a one-point lead.
Fans can check out each artist's portfolio on www.mtvengineroom.com.
In what has become the most successful user-generated content effort to date across any MTV Networks property, nearly 2,000 artists representing more than 122 countries vied for the 16 coveted spots in the ENGINE ROOM loft by submitting nearly 20,000 original works of art.
Once on the show, contestants demonstrated their skills with intense challenges ranging from web development to designing permanent tattoo art for series' guest stars to creating team videos inspired by the HP HANDS commercials. Contestants were critiqued each week by a wide range of iconic judges, from musicians Moby and Tom DeLonge, to filmmakers Kevin Smith and Mark Osborne, to legendary graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister and Guggenheim Chief Curator Nancy Spector.
"College students took over ENGINE ROOM and transformed it into their global stage, a place to connect with one another, collaborate and bring their incredible vision to life," said Ross Martin, SVP of programming for mtvU and executive producer of the series. "Now, thousands of digital artists from around the world are flooding www.mtvengineroom.com with powerful work every minute, and we can't wait to see what they'll come up with as they design HP's next personal computer."
Given the overwhelming response of viewers and artists around the world, at the conclusion of the ENGINE ROOM series MTV's Pak announced a new digital artistry challenge -- the ENGINE ROOM notebook design challenge -- but this time it's for the audience. The contest invites artists around the world to submit their best designs for a chance to have their art displayed on an HP notebook PC. Artists can submit their designs at www.mtvengineroom.com until Dec. 7 for a chance to win.
"Today's youth are some of the most talented and creative digital artists of any generation," said David Roman, vice president, Marketing Communications, Personal Systems Group, HP. "Collaborating with MTV on the ENGINE ROOM notebook design challenge allows us to provide an outlet for people to showcase their creativity on a global scale."
Fans that visit the ENGINE ROOM website and vote for their favorite design also will automatically be entered in a sweepstakes to win cool technology prizes from HP.
In 2007, the notebook design contest from MTV and HP drew more than 8,500 design submissions from 112 countries and turned 20-year-old Joao Oliveira of Porto, Portugal, into an up-and-coming designer.
The seven ENGINE ROOM episodes aired in the United States on mtvU -- MTV's college network -- and on MTV channels around the world. All of the ENGINE ROOM episodes are online at www.mtvengineroom.com, where viewers can check out the challenges, learn how to tackle them on their own PCs, interact with other digital artists, and showcase their work by creating portfolios to be seen by fans around the world.
