We’re happy to announce that Howcast is one of 100 finalists in the Search & Reference category in the 2009 Webware 100 Awards, an annual program in which CNET readers select the top Web 2.0 apps and services from a hand-picked list of 300 finalists.

If the spirit moves you, by all means, CLICK HERE TO VOTE for Howcast! Voting will continue until April 30th, so give us a head start! CNET will announce the winners on May 19th.

Nate Wood, one of Howcast’s star Emerging Filmmakers was featured on the YouTube homepage top slot today with his funny–but culturally accurate–spot: How to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Like an Irishman.

Nate made green beer, played the bagpipes, and threw a St. Patty’s Day party, all for the sake of great video! Check out the whole playlist.

By the way, the luck of the EFP isn’t reserved for St. Patrick. On Valentine’s Day, Jocelyn Hsu and Rene Amador’s hysterical EFP spot, How To Survive Valentine’s Day Alone, landed a feature placement on the YouTube homepage, too!

A year ago today Howcast.com came into the world all bright, shiny, and new. One precocious year later, we’ve hit our stride, with a library of fantastic videos, a growing stable of talented filmmakers, and an impressive roster of partners.

A big thank you for helping make Howcast the go-to place for how-to videos. If we can’t share our cake with you, we’ll share some of the behind-the-scenes magic that’s helped make Howcast what it is today.

Check out some of our favorite memories like when the lights went out at Howcast:

or how we all went into food comas after eating too much Katz’s,:

Thank you everyone, and Happy Birthday!

Happy holidays, everyone! The Emerging Filmmakers Program didn’t want you to think that we’re a bunch of Scrooges, so we got you a little something … the Howcast Emerging Filmmakers Podcast! The EFP will be showcasing the work of its filmmakers in a podcast on iTunes! Each week, we will feature a different video so you can keep up with what our filmmakers are producing. We’ve already started broadcasting, so click here, subscribe to the podcast, check out the recent episodes, and download them onto your iPod to show your friends!

First there was Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and right after that, New Years. But you still haven’t gotten the party out of your system and need a few more excuses to cheer yourself — and everyone around you — up, right?
If you are a fellow victim of “Fall Street” and can’t afford to pay someone to help intoxicate you, don’t fret! We have a crash course in mixology with our favorite drinks including Mojitos, Long Island Iced Teas, and our all time favorite, Jell-o shots! Of course, serving food alongside your drinks doesn”t hurt. Our podcast subscribers agree: They’ve found our food & drink video collection so useful that we were voted one of the best iTunes podcasts of 2008! To our subscribers–there is LOTS more to come. We promise to keep updating you with our newest and hottest stuff! Just to show you we really are looking out for you, here’s one video to make sure you start off your new year with both feet on the ground.

Did you know that television stations are briefly turning off their analog signals tonight and will only broadcast digitally? It’s a test for the upcoming February 17th shift to digital when all television stations will stop broadcasting on analog signals. Check out how you can prepare for this upcoming switch to digital TV.

Last week at the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit, Howcast hosted 17 inspirational leaders who have used online tools like Facebook and YouTube to effect social change. With an amazing range of speeches from participants such as Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, a conversation with the Obama campaign’s new-media team, and panels like Addressing Violence at Home moderated by Whoopi Goldberg, the summit was an unforgettable experience for everyone involved.

In case you missed any of the action in our live stream, tune into the Alliance of Youth Movements Hub and watch the panels from the comfort of your computer screen.

Highlights include:

• Oscar Morales sharing how he got 12 million people in 200 cities to take to the streets in protest against the FARC.
• How to Mobilize in a Challenging Environment.
• How to Utilize Digital Media to Create Social Change

If you are starting your own grassroots movement, download the field manual compiled from the participants’ tips and techniques on using online media to effect real-world change.

Stay tuned to the hub to read news from these movements and to share your own stories with them.

This December, two of our most prominent voice over artists, Liv Rooth and Darcie Champagne, will be sharing the stage together at the Theater At St. Clement’s in Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean tragedy, Women Beware Women.

Darcie Champagne, a Brooklynite, is very involved in the off-off theater world. She is a founding member and the Company Manager for the wonderful production company Working Man’s Clothes, which took home 6 of their nine nominations from the 2006 New York Innovative Theater Awards! Darcie earned her MFA from the Actor’s Studio Drama School, a division of The New School, and her BFA in musical theater is from Emerson College in Boston.

Liv, who resides in Queens, made her Broadway debut this year in Is He Dead?, a Mark Twain comedy that had a healthy run at the Lyceym Theater in early 2008.  Her off-broadway credits include Jane Eyre and Love, Shakespeare with The Acting Company, A Perfect Wedding with NYU Grad Acting, and The Obstruction Plays with The Slant Theater Project.  This past summer, she also starred in Pride & Prejudice at Rochester’s Geva Theater.  Liv earned her MFA from NYU in Graduate acting, and has her BA from Dartmouth College.

If you are up for hilariously scathing social satire, go see these talented ladies rock the knickers off this 17th-centruy classic from December 9th – January 5th with the Red Bull Theater. You can order tickets online.

Give Darcie and Liv a listen!

Introducing the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit

Join Whoopi Goldberg, Host of ABC’s “The View”, key members of President-Elect Obama’s New Media Team, Dustin Moskovitz, Co-Founder, Facebook, James K. Glassman, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State and Oscar Morales, Founder, One Million Voices Against the FARC, as they engage inspiring leaders of youth movements from around the world to discuss how to change the world by building grassroots movements on the web at the first annual Alliance of Youth Movements Summit.

Watch & Discuss Live

With so many challenging events unfolding around the world, the Summit offers a unique chance to meet the inspiring young leaders who have truly changed the world around them by bringing together their fellow youth with the help of the web – leaders who continue to make a difference.

Streaming live from Columbia Law School December 4-5, you and people from around the world can watch the Summit and join the discussion live at http://youthmovements.howcast.com.

Here’s just a sample of the compelling keynotes and discussions you’ll be able to watch and discuss at the Youth Movements Hub on Howcast:

• Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz will reflect on the origins of Facebook and share his perspective on how the organization has grown into one of the world’s most important tools for social and political change. Dustin will also be fielding questions. Dec 4, 8:40-9:20am:
  Join the Discussion | Watch it Live
• Key members of President-elect Barack Obama’s New Media team will discuss their perspective on the use of new media tools to engage young people with Micah Sifry, Personal Democracy Forum.  Dec 5, 9:40-10:40am EST: Join the Discussion | Watch it Live
• James K. Glassman, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs will discuss the importance of using social networks to create social change and combat violent extremism. Setting the stage for Oscar Morales and One Million Voices Against the FARC. The Under Secretary will also be fielding questions. Dec 4, 9:50-10:25am:  Join the Discussion | Watch it Live
• Oscar Morales, founder of the One Million Voices Against the FARC movement, will discuss how in just one month, he used online platforms and new media to build the largest movement against a terrorist organization in the history of the world. Oscar will also be leading a discussion. Dec 4, 9:50-10:25am EST: Join the Discussion | Watch it Live
• Whoopi Goldberg will lead youth leaders who have used online platforms to address domestic violence at home in a discussion Addressing Violence at Home.  Dec 4, 1:45-2:45pm EST: Join the Discussion | Watch it Live

… and so many more inspiring, interesting panels and keynotes. Check out the Summit Schedule and be sure to tune in and join the discussion.

How To Get Involved

1. Join the Youth Movements Hub.
2. Join the Summit Conversation.  Share your thoughts, ideas and questions — for specific sessions or any topic related to building strong grassroots movements.
3. Spread the Word:
   1. Update your Facebook Status: “I’m watching Tomorrow’s Leaders Change the World at http://youthmovements.howcast.com.”
   2. Invite all of your friends and colleagues to join the Hub at http://youthmovements.howcast.com

About the Alliance of Youth Movements

Brought together by Howcast, Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, the U.S. Department of State, Columbia Law School and Access 360 Media, leaders of the organizations will travel to New York City with the mission of crafting a field manual on how to effect social change using online tools. These young leaders will form a new group, the Alliance of Youth Movements, which will produce a field manual for youth empowerment. The field manual will stand in stark contrast to the Al-Qaeda manual on the basics of terrorism, found by Coalition Forces in Iraq.

The gathering was inspired by the success of the One Million Voices Against the FARC, a group started on Facebook.com by young people in Colombia. The Colombian group, along with Save Darfur Coalition, Genocide Intervention Network, Burma Global Action Network and Invisible Children will share their ideas with leaders of other groups that use social and mobile technologies to promote freedom and justice and oppose violence, extremism and oppression.

Learn How To Change the World.  Visit youthmovements.howcast.com.

Want to comment on your own great idea of “How to Butter Corn,“ but haven’t created a Howcast account yet? Good news: Starting today, you can sign in via your Facebook account. Yep, the very same account you use to intensely ponder why that special someone’s status went from “single” to “it’s complicated,” can now be your direct line to Howcast heaven.

If you don’t have a Howcast account, simply log in with your Facebook user name and password by clicking the “Facebook Connect” button at the top of Howcast.com home page. Your information and profile picture will automatically be pulled over, and you can start commenting, voting for, and suggesting your favorite Howcast videos. Let your friends know you liked “How to Avoid Giving Terrible Gifts” by choosing to publish your vote directly on your Facebook news feed, ensuring you don’t get a half-eaten slice of pizza this year.

If you already have a Howcast account, simply:
1. Sign in to Howcast using your normal Howcast account credentials
2. Visit http://www.howcast.com/my_account
3. Click on the “Facebook Connect” button that appears under the “About’ module on this page
4. Supply your Facebook credentials and grant access

* Here’s the Facebook Connect button:

We’re excited to be one of the first sites to incorporate Facebook Connect, so give it a whirl and let us know what you think!

Sanjay