Outstanding

Last spring, the 2004 Republican National Convention partnered with MTV to ask 18-24 year old Americans how President Bush's call to service had resonated in their lives.

It must have been difficult for the RNC and MTV judges to winnow down to 10 finalists from the 1000+ essays submitted in the "Stand Up and Holla" contest. All 10 had positive and inspiring messages, and did a good job representing themselves and their hometowns. The essays were in text and video format. Some of the videos were simple and sincere. Others rivaled big budget Hollywood trailers. In either case it was campaigning in it's purest form, i.e. 'this is who I am and why I think you should vote for me'.

The winner will travel to New York City with delegates and party officials from across the nation to participate in the 2004 Republican National Convention. Voting is open through August 9 and the winner will be announced on MTV's Total Request Live on August 16.

Republican National Convention Blog NYC 2004 will do a recap of the outcome.