As flashing cameras capture budding celebrities at this year's Academy Awards, two Duke students may make their own Oscar debut, off the red carpet.

Junior David Distenfeld, a former Chronicle columnist, and senior Lawrence Chen are one of the ten semi-finalist teams chosen from 100 in mtvU's first-ever Oscar Correspondent Contest, said mtvU's Kris Kirk, coordinator for university relations. The contest provides the top three teams with all-expense paid trips to Los Angeles and access to Oscar preview events. The winning team will also receive backstage pressroom passes and access to the red carpet to represent mtvU.

Chen and Distenfeld, both students of the Film/Video/Digital Studies certificate and members of Duke University Improv, were informed of the contest through the FVD listserv.

"There's no competition that could've appealed to me more than going to the Oscars," Distenfeld said. "People don't realize how obsessed I am. It's very exciting for me."

Senior Brett Aresco, a fellow DUI member and a Chronicle columnist, attributed Distenfeld's love for award shows as a major advantage in the competition.

"David--he just loves movies, loves TV and is probably one of the few people in the country, and by extension the world, who also loves watching awards shows," Aresco said. "It's really something he uses to a great advantage in this kind of a [competition]."

Chen and Distenfeld said they only spent a day making the competition video and another hour editing it. In the submission, Distenfeld anchored the report while Chen filmed. They said they are confident in the video's quality and hope to progress to the final three.

"We are like the 'Slumdog Millionaire' of this competition," Distenfeld said. "Other schools are like the 'Benjamin Buttons' and 'Frost/Nixon.' No one ever thought we were going to get this far."

Despite their optimism, Chen added that because most other competitors are broadcast journalism students, getting a top-three spot will require some work.

Friends of Distenfeld and Chen said they are confident the duo can win.

"I think their video is at least seven times as good [as the others]," said DUI member Andrew Tutt, a senior. "I think David's sincerity and access to large mailing lists will really help this cause."

Distenfeld and Chen created a Facebook group and event to promote the competition. They said they believe the key to winning is to get at least 6,000 voters from different IP addresses, which they acknowledged may be challenging at a school of Duke's size.

But Kirk said the Web site does not require voters to register and cannot track if votes are from new users. Regardless, he added that the contestants are encouraged to publicize in a way that attracts unique voters.

Distenfeld and Chen, both of whom are interested in working with films in the future, said winning the competition will be advantageous to both them and the University. Chen added that a victory will make Duke more prominent in the arts, a field he thinks the University needs to emphasize more.

"Our basketball team isn't No. 1 anymore, but our film team can be," Distenfeld said.