A studio band second-to-none, a superlative live act, and a bunch of nice guys-- what can't this Radiohead do?

You may recall the aniBoom-sponsored Radiohead animated video contest, announced back in March and narrowed to a field of 10 finalists as of mid-spring. In accordance with the contest rules, Radiohead were meant to pick one grand prize winner out of the ten finalists, which aniBoom would furnish with the means for making a final video in the form of $10,000. But since when do Radiohead play by the rules?

Rather than simply select one victor, Radiohead today settled on four, and rather than foot aniBoom the bill, Radiohead themselves are "supplying the additional funds so that all four [winners] receive grand prizes of $10,000 to each produce full-length videos," according to a press release. What a band!

Anyhow, congratulations to grand prize winners Kota Totori of Japan (aka Hideyuki Kota), Wolfgang Jaiser and Claus Winter of Germany (aka 16tracks), Clement Picon of France, and Tobias Stretch of the United States, all of whom are probably working diligently on their final products right about now. The fruits of those labors should be making their way to Adult Swim at some point, so keep an eye out. Until then, have a look at the entries that, claims the press release, had Thom Yorke "totally blown away":

"15 Step V2.0" by Kota Totori


"16Tracks vs. Videotape 2.0" by Wolfgang Jaiser and Claus Winter


"Reckoner V2" by Clement Picon


"Transmutation" by Tobias Stretch


As for Radiohead, their recently extended In Rainbows tour finds them in Camden, New Jersey tomorrow night.

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