Reach into your pocket to film the next masterpiece? The Master of Communication in Digital Media program at The University of Washington is sponsoring the first PocketMedia Film Festival, open to all UW faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Filmmakers are asked to respond to the theme "What do you do at the UW?" by shooting a 90-second video with pocket-sized devices like mini-camcorders, digital cameras and mobile phones. Submissions will be accepted April 17-May 13.

A People's Choice Award will be decided by users of Seattle start-up Zooppa.com. Voting is open to the public.

A panel of judges will choose a grand-prize winner and honorable mentions. Besides using a pocket-sized device, each film must feature a purple W and provide credits for music, pictures and other materials. Copyrighted materials must have the express permission of the creator.

Winning films will be screened on May 28 at the Husky Union Building. (Note the date has changed.)

MCDM director and former TV journalist Hanson Hosein says he was raised on expensive cameras, and the PocketMedia Film Festival  is a way to celebrate the current communication revolution as well as "help spread the good word about media literacy now that we all have the potential to broadcast our content around the planet."

You can get some ideas here.

Roni Ayalla -- a student in the University of Washington's Master of Communication in Digital Media program -- is a contributor to TechFlash.