90 Second Newberry

My professors are constantly emailing us about good authentic problems, resources for our classrooms, and ongoing contests.  I usually look at them, but never find anything that I like or is realistic to accomplish in my classroom.  Today I was directed to this site http://jameskennedy.com/90-second-newbery/.  This is a a video contest for taking a Newberry winning or honorary novel and telling the story in a very condensed 90 second video!  My fifth graders love to read and love drama.  I thought this would be a perfect way to end my year with them.  An added bonus is this is an authentic problem that I did not have to make up!  Now I'm working on the design of this activity.  Should I assign them groups and the novel?  Should I assign them groups and allow them to choose their novel?  Should I display the list of books and let them choose both the book and their group members?  Should I use flip cameras or try to get video cameras?  Unfortunately I do not have any apple technology available because that would be preferred.  I'm very excited about this end of the year project! As soon as the reading SOL is over we will get started on it!  If it goes smoothly, I could consider doing it again in the fall with my new fifth graders since the contest goes until October 29th.