BlackEntertainment Television, the Black AIDS Institute and the Kaiser FamilyFoundation, a lobby group that focuses on public health issues, have set up theRap-It-Up/Black AIDS Short Subject Film Competition.

The competition is designedto raise awareness of AIDS among black communities in the US and is open topeople of all ethnicities to submit a statement of purpose and a screenplaythat addresses the subject.

A panel of prominentAfrican-Americans will select two winners, who will each receive up to $25,000from BET to produce the film. The completed films will be screened on thenetwork sometime around World AIDS Day on Dec 1 and will also be submitted tofestivals around the world.

"African-Americans accountfor the most people estimated to be living with AIDS, and for more AIDS-relateddeaths than any other ethnic group in the United States," BET executive vicepresident of marketing and communications Kelli Richardson Lawson said in astatement.

"Because of these disturbingstatistics, it is imperative that BET leverages its corporate partnerships andresources to combat this deadly disease."