More cute cat videos coming to You Tube

And the award for most effective use of social media in the pet category goes to…

Global pet care leader Nestle Purina has created a new national contest called "The Friskies" with a $15,000 grand prize that is sure to set off a new round of online cat videos.

According to the company, many great art forms have awards for the best new work created each year. Films have the Oscars, TV shows have the Emmys and now Internet cat videos have The Friskies.

"We love cat videos because they showcase the imagination of both cats and their owners," said Shaun Belongie, Friskies brand manager. "Some may say that there are too many cat videos on the Internet already. We don’t think so. We’re launching ‘The Friskies’ because we think the next great cat video is just waiting to be discovered."

Cat videographers have until October 12 to submit their video at www.TheFriskies.com where up to 12 finalists will be chosen for the judging and public voting phase in October. Winners will be announced in November. Each finalist will receive a one-year supply of Friskies cat food, and an original Friskies cat statue called a "Cat-uette." The grand prize winner receives $15,000 and the honor of "Best Video," and four "cat"-egory prize winners will receive $2,500.

The contest also rewards the online community’s participation efforts with donations of Friskies cat food to cat charity organization partners. Friskies has committed to donate 125,000 cans of cat food to cat charity organization partners. Each time someone enters the contest, votes, or likes or shares a video; five additional cans of Friskies cat food will be added to the total number of cans to be donated, up to a total of 250,000 cans.

Submissions are possible in the following areas:

Catness: The essence of cat behavior or moments that capture pure cat awesomeness.

Catcom: Cats in a humorous situation.

Catventure: An indoor cat adventure

Catch All: For entries that don’t fit into one of the other categories.

Videos can’t be longer than three minutes and will be judged on originality, overall artistic impression, cinematography, technical production, audience appeal and entertainment quality, cat playfulness or quirks, sense of a story being told, and portraying cat’s perspective.