MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) in the US and mtvU, which is the music broadcaster's college network, have announced that ten teams of college journalists are semifinalists in the first Oscar Correspondent Contest.

Each contestant is vying for a position on the red carpet at the 81st Academy Awards in Los Angeles on 22 February 2009.

Video entries from the semifinalist teams are posted online where students and other viewers can vote for their favorite college journalists until 6 February.

On 9 February the three teams with the most online votes, and as agreed upon by the Academy and mtvU, will advance to the final round of competition, with online voting from 9-20 February. All three finalist teams will be flown to Los Angeles to cover Academy Awards pre-events, including the Animated Feature Symposium, Foreign Language Film Award Nominees Symposium, the Makeup Artist and Hairstylist Symposium and the Governors Ball preview.

The Grand Prize team will be revealed on 20 February at an Academy press conference, and awarded a spot on the red carpet for the 81st Academy Awards arrivals as well as credentials for access to backstage press rooms. The two other teams will receive bleacher seats along the red carpet and admission to an Oscar viewing party.

The ten semi-finalist teams were selected by the Academy and mtvU from videos submitted for the competition. These entries were judged based on equally weighted criteria including originality, creativity, and by which entries were most compelling. The competition was open to teams of two college students, one anchor and one videographer, residing in the United States.