Trugo Social Networking Site Offers Tuition Money For Best VideosTrugo Social Networking Site Offers Tuition Money For Best Videos

A new social networking site will offer ten people up to $30,000 in college tuition money through a video contest.

Trugo announced Tuesday that it would award the money to winners who submit the best four-minute videos answering the question: "Why should Trugo pay for your tuition?" The contest begins this week with a national tour of college campuses, with live demonstrations of Trugo, beginning at the University of Miami.

Contestants should describe their aspirations and explain why they deserve $30,000 for their tuition. Trugo's user community will vote on the video submissions, judging them on theme, creativity, and originality. The grand prize winner will receive $30,000, and the second place winner will receive $20,000. Trugo will award the third place winner $15,000, while those who place fourth through tenth will each receive $5,000.

Trugo said its tuition contest stems from its CEO and founder's own experiences. R. (Chandra) Chandrasekar had just graduated from college in his native Singapore when his country called on him for mandatory military service. Chandrasekar lacked a clear vision for his future until a military officer motivated him by asking him a series of questions that led Chandrasekar to redesign his base's IT system.

The experience shaped Chandrasekar's career vision and prompted him to form his first company at the age of 23. He used that company's core technology to develop Trugo, which aims to give users more privacy and personalization than the other social networking sites.

"College should be about learning, growing and socializing, not about worrying about how to pay your tuition," Chandrasekar, said. "I was given a similar opportunity to express my creativity earlier in my life and it led me to found my first company. There is no reason a contest such as ours couldn't have the same impact on one of our future community members."

Contestants must first register with the company's Web site to participate and submit their videos by Jan. 15. Voting ends Jan. 25. Winners will be announced Jan. 30.