A re you the next Steven Spielberg? Or maybe the next Ken Burns? NeXt, the youth section of The Buffalo News, is holding its first-ever short video documentary competition this fall, open to high school (grades 9 to 12) and middle school (grades 6 to 9) filmmakers.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

Short documentaries (minimum 2 minutes, maximum 4 minutes in length)

CATEGORIES:

News: (inspired by a story from the newspaper or other media or reporting you’ve done yourself)

Feature/profile

Humor

Performance

WHO CAN ENTER: High school and middle school students, home-schooled students from the eight Western New York counties. Teams of students may also enter (maximum three students). One entry allowed per student.

HOW TO ENTER: Mail your completed documentary to:

NeXt Short Video Contest Buffalo News Features Department One News Plaza, Buffalo NY 14203.

(Video must be received by 5 p. m. Nov. 20.)

On a sheet of paper mailed with the DVD, include your name, age, home mailing address (including zip code), school, grade in school and home telephone number.

Winning videos will be posted on The Buffalo News Web site, video. buffalonews.com (for examples of short news videos, look at the videos on this site). Prizes will be awarded to winners in each category. Find complete contest rules at

www.buffalonews.com/next

. Call 849-4076 or e-mail

next@buffnews.com

with any questions.