The 8th Annual FITC Toronto takes place later this month and, as a sponsor of this year's design and technology festival, we've found ourselves with four passes to give away. Each pass is worth $749 so if you want one we're going to ask you to put in a little bit of effort in order to claim one of them. Keep reading to find out more about FITC and what you'll need to do to win one of the passes.

For those new to FITC, the key thing to know is that during the day it's all about meeting and hearing from some of the world's most prominent design and technology professionals. The list of speakers the organizers managed to line-up for the festival is ridiculously deep and international in scope. But beyond the speakers there's also lots more going on including workshops and parties at well chosen spots like the Great Hall, Four Two Four and The Centre of Gravity. It all starts Saturday April 25th.

To get just a little more context, I connected with founder Shawn Pucknell who filled me in on some more of the specifics. Here's our Q&A:

FITC is now in its 8th year. What have been the key ingredients to its success and longevity?

I like to believe that we offer a great event, with amazing presenters and amazing parties and networking, and it all just clicks. That, and a lot of luck!

FITC has an international reach and following and already kicked off 2009 with a sold out event in Amsterdam. What are some of the big themes or ideas emerging at FITC events this year?

Convergence/Mobile seem to be the biggest buzz right now. It seems that almost every project people are talking about has an added feature...its not just about websites anymore. That, or social networking and how to connect to users.

What speakers or events on this year's program in Toronto are you most looking forward to?

That's a tough one as we have so much going on this year. With over 80 presentations, all ones that we've hand selected, it does become tough to choose just a few! Joshua Davis is always one of the more entertaining and energetic ones, and he has an all new presentation this year.

Zachary Lieberman was amazing last year, and this year he's back with Golan Levin so I'm very excited about that. MK12 is showing us how they made the opening title sequence for the new James Bond film, so that should be cool. And Brett Rampata is showing a new AIR app that was done for MTV's Jackass, which should be enteraining! I could go on and on!

Any advice for FITC newbies?

Talk to people. You are there to meet people. introduce yourself. Now is not the time to be shy. That is the only thing you should keep in mind at FITC Toronto 2009. If you are shy, set yourself a goal.."i will talk to 3 new people each day!".

And now on to the contest....

The Prize: A pass to this year's FITC Toronto (There will be 4 winners)

How To Win: To participate in this contest, we want you to create a video explaining why you should be selected as one of the four winners of an FITC pass. There is no minimum or maximum length for the video and you can be as creative (or uncreative) as you want in your effort to convince us you're one of the four most deserving. To create your video, you can use something as simple as a webcam or mobile phone, or get more sophisticated with a camcorder or video camera. You can animate it or you can star in it. Or get your friends to cameo. It's up to you. All we ask is that you upload the video to YouTube, Flickr or Vimeo and send us the link to contests [at] blogto [dotcom]. The deadline for entries is 11:59PM this Sunday April 19th. We'll be announcing the lucky four winners on Tuesday, April 21st and posting a selection of the submitted videos on the site.

Good luck!

Photo by FITC on Flickr