P4A 2010 edition
project history · status: completed · last event: milestone (2011-02-04) · last mentioned: 2026-02-15
The 2010 Project for Awesome, announced in late November 2010, ran on YouTube on 17 and 18 December 2010 with YouTube's own help, including John's zombie apocalypse novella raffle. It drew more than 3,000 videos and 600,000 comments and raised more than $150,000 for charity.
Parts: John asks Nerdfighters to make P4A 2010 videos for charities (2010) · John and Hank ask viewers to sign up for P4A 2010 email updates (2010) · Hank asks viewers to subscribe to youtube.com/p4a for P4A 2010 (2010) · John asks viewers to comment on, rate and favorite P4A 2010 videos at youtube.com/p4a (2010) · John asks viewers to donate to P4A 2010 charities at projectforawesome.com (2010) · John (with Hank): donate one penny per P4A 2010 comment, up to one million comments, to Save the Children and Partners in Health (2010) · Hank asks viewers to watch Shawn Ahmed's Uncultured Project P4A 2010 video (2010)
Other editions: P4A 2008 edition · P4A 2009 edition · P4A 2011 edition · P4A 2012 edition · P4A 2013 edition · P4A 2014 edition · P4A 2015 edition · P4A 2016 edition · P4A 2017 edition · P4A 2018 edition · P4A 2019 edition · P4A 2021 edition · P4A 2022 edition · P4A 2023 edition · P4A 2024 edition · P4A 2025 edition · P4A 2026 edition
Told alongside: 'In your pants' suffix game (2007) · John asks Zombicorns readers to comment thanking the donors who made the novella possible (2011)
About: Project for Awesome, YouTube, Zombicorns
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11-26 | announced | John and Hank announce P4A 2010: videos uploaded on December 17, a big live show out of Los Angeles with a four-hour YouTube live stream, more details to come. | p4a, Space Pasta, and Giant Squids of Anger 00:00:17 |
| 2010-12-08 | announced | John announces that on December 17 and 18 Project for Awesome videos will be featured all over YouTube, and that the only copy of his zombie novella will be a P4A raffle prize. | My Zombie Apocalypse Novella 00:03:30 |
| 2010-12-10 | announced | Hank sets out how P4A 2010 works: almost exclusively on YouTube; subscribe to youtube.com/p4a; partners use the P4A thumbnail, others put P4A in title and tags; upload midnight-ish December 17; videos featured on the 17th and 18th. | Project for Awesome and Thoughts from DC 00:00:31 |
| 2010-12-13 | rule change | John corrects the P4A 2010 start time Hank gave: it begins at noon Eastern on December 17, so videos should be uploaded as close to noon as possible. → refers to Project for Awesome and Thoughts from DC | 8 Things I Love 00:00:02 |
| 2010-12-17 | launched | John announces it is time for the 2010 Project for Awesome, running all day today and tomorrow at youtube.com/p4a and projectforawesome.com. | PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2010: Save the Children and Partners in Health 00:00:00 |
| 2010-12-17 | rule change | John sets out P4A 2010 raffles: YouTuber and Nerdfighter prizes, his zombie novella (every entrant emailed the story; the winner gets an annotated, signed printed copy) and naming Hank's new album after the winner. | PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2010: Save the Children and Partners in Health 00:02:36 |
| 2010-12-20 | milestone | Hank says YouTube itself helped P4A 2010: the logo was changed, P4A videos got 40 front-page features, and a team of YouTube employees helped plan a fancy live show. | Thoughts on the Project for Awesome 00:02:04 |
| 2010-12-20 | outcome | Hank calls P4A 2010 the most successful ever: 600,000 comments on over 3,000 videos, over 40 hours of video, over 10 million views, and over $130,000 raised. | Thoughts on the Project for Awesome 00:02:17 |
| 2010-12-22 | outcome | John reports P4A 2010 made more than 3,000 videos and raised more than $135,000 confirmed, probably much more. | I Was on Jeopardy!!!! 00:00:31 |
| 2010-12-22 | rule change | John says the brothers will draw the P4A 2010 raffles on December 26. | I Was on Jeopardy!!!! 00:02:36 |
| 2010-12-31 | milestone | Hank says the P4A raffle winners have been announced and contacted. | Is Lady Gaga a Man? 00:03:02 |
| 2011-02-04 | milestone | John's zombie novella was released under a Creative Commons license and is freely available online, linked in the description. | QUESTION FRIDAY: Spelling is Hard Edition 00:01:58 |
| 2011-02-09 | looked back | John reports the Project for Awesome generated more than 600,000 comments and raised more than $150,000. | NERDFIGHTERS UNITE! (in your pants) 00:01:40 |
| 2011-05-05 | looked back | John reports that the 2010 Project for Awesome, overseen by Hank, raised more than $150,000 for charity. | IT'S HANKO DE MAYO!! 00:01:46 |
| 2026-01-20 (happened 2010) | looked back | The quote came from Zombicorns, a novella John wrote in 2010 for the Project for Awesome about a zombie apocalypse caused by corn monoculture. | Am I ... Good? 00:00:00 |
| 2026-02-15 (happened 2010) | looked back | John recently reread Zombicorns, the zombie apocalypse novella he wrote about 15 years ago for the Project for Awesome, the first time he had ever reread his own work, and found he liked it and was proud of himself. | Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! 02:36:45 |
What is said about it
31 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2010-11-26 · p4a, Space Pasta, and Giant Squids of Anger — Hank recalls that in 2007 the brothers realized Nerdfighteria had become a big deal and wanted to use its power; the project has grown every year for three years. — 00:00:22 · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated
- 2010-11-26 · p4a, Space Pasta, and Giant Squids of Anger — announcement: John says this year (2010) P4A will be the biggest ever, with a huge, epic live show out of Los Angeles. — 00:00:46
- 2010-11-26 · p4a, Space Pasta, and Giant Squids of Anger — announcement: Hank says they just spoke with YouTube, which is giving them treatment like Conan O'Brien and the President get: a four-hour live stream on YouTube. — 00:00:54
- 2010-11-26 · p4a, Space Pasta, and Giant Squids of Anger — announcement: Hank says viewers get three weeks of lead time before December 17, and more details (thumbnail, logo, websites) will follow. — 00:01:36
- 2010-12-08 · My Zombie Apocalypse Novella — John presents the beginning of his zombie apocalypse novella, a first-person story he performs as the video. — 00:00:00
- 2010-12-08 · My Zombie Apocalypse Novella — announcement: The description sets the plan: an official thumbnail is coming, and on December 17 at noon Pacific everyone uploads their P4A videos at the same time. — video description
- 2010-12-08 · My Zombie Apocalypse Novella — announcement: John: The project then goes on with everyone watching and commenting on P4A videos, and on Saturday YouTube hosts a huge live show from Los Angeles. — video description
- 2010-12-08 · My Zombie Apocalypse Novella — John says the novella will never be published, not because he dislikes the genre but because his is bad, and it gets worse after the first page. (playful) — 00:03:05
- 2010-12-08 · My Zombie Apocalypse Novella — announcement: John announces that the only copy of the novella that will ever exist will be one of many Project for Awesome raffle prizes. — 00:03:15
- 2010-12-08 · My Zombie Apocalypse Novella — ask: John tells Nerdfighters he hopes they are working on their Project for Awesome videos and urges them to make them awesome. — 00:03:19
- 2010-12-10 · Project for Awesome and Thoughts from DC — announcement: Hank announces that the Project for Awesome is coming fast and this year (2010) will be a bit different, taking place almost exclusively on YouTube. — 00:00:00
- 2010-12-10 · Project for Awesome and Thoughts from DC — ask: Hank tells anyone who wants to participate at all, even just tuning in, to subscribe to youtube.com/p4a right now, calling it extremely important to P4A's success. — 00:00:08
- 2010-12-10 · Project for Awesome and Thoughts from DC — announcement: Hank tells video makers to get the P4A thumbnail from 'the links in my pants' (the description); only YouTube partners can change thumbnails, so others should put 'Project for Awesome' or 'P4A' in title and tags. — 00:00:31
- 2010-12-10 · Project for Awesome and Thoughts from DC — announcement: Hank says P4A videos must be uploaded 'midnight-ish' on December 17; through the 17th and 18th the P4A crew, including the brothers, will feature them on ProjectForAwesome.com, the mailing list, YouTube's front page and youtube.com/p4a. — 00:00:47
- 2010-12-10 · Project for Awesome and Thoughts from DC — Hank was in D.C. for a YouTube event for policy and politics people, on a panel about using YouTube for good where he talked about P4A; it was fun but too short. — 00:03:04
- 2010-12-13 · 8 Things I Love — ask: John: On the end screen John reminds viewers to subscribe to youtube.com/p4a, where P4A begins Friday at noon Eastern. — 00:03:30
- 2010-12-17 · PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2010: Save the Children and Partners in Health — announcement: John opens the 2010 Project for Awesome: viewers can take part all day today and tomorrow at youtube.com/p4a or projectforawesome.com, where an army of commenters, Hank and John included, will comment, rate and favorite. — 00:00:00
- 2010-12-17 · PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2010: Save the Children and Partners in Health — announcement: John lists P4A raffle prizes from YouTubers including Meekakitty, WheezyWaiter, Nerimon and Ryan Higa, plus Nerdfighter raffles including his nerd glasses and the last remaining BobbleJohn. — 00:02:24
- 2010-12-17 · PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2010: Save the Children and Partners in Health — announcement: John's favourite raffle names Hank's new album after the winner (a winner called Jeff means an album called 'Jeff'); he jokes he will enter it about 400 times. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:45
- 2010-12-17 · PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2010: Save the Children and Partners in Health — ask: John asks viewers to join the brothers all day today and tomorrow at youtube.com/p4a to comment on, rate and favorite as many P4A videos as possible, while he and Hank upload videos constantly 'Old Spice Guy-style'. — 00:03:01
- 2010-12-20 · Thoughts on the Project for Awesome — Hank says P4A continued annually, each year less subversive and more legitimate, until YouTube wanted to help promote it; he mock-protests that YouTube should be a faceless monolith they sneak past. — 00:00:32
- 2010-12-20 · Thoughts on the Project for Awesome — Hank says this year (2010) they hacked for charity harder than ever: WheezyWaiter's chest hair, John's fear of heights, and YouTube itself from the inside out. (playful) — 00:01:56
- 2010-12-20 · Thoughts on the Project for Awesome — Hank says YouTube's help let P4A change the YouTube logo, get 40 front-page video features and work with a team of YouTube employees on a fancy live show. — 00:02:04
- 2010-12-20 · Thoughts on the Project for Awesome — Hank calls P4A 2010 the most successful ever: 600,000 comments on over 3,000 videos with a total running time over 40 hours and over 10 million views. — 00:02:17
- 2010-12-20 · Thoughts on the Project for Awesome — Hank says earlier P4As were about raising awareness through videos, but this year (2010) also raised money: over $100,000 in small donations and over $130,000 in total. — 00:02:29
- 2010-12-22 · I Was on Jeopardy!!!! — John reports that P4A 2010 generated more than 3,000 P4A videos and raised more than $135,000 that can be confirmed, probably much more. (hedged) — 00:00:31
- 2010-12-22 · I Was on Jeopardy!!!! — announcement: John says he still has to finish his zombie apocalypse novella, but he is on it. — 00:02:36
- 2011-01-07 · CONCUSSED Question Friday — announcement: John hopes to finish his zombie apocalypse novella within a week or so; he calls it terrible and wants to get back to his real book. (hedged) — 00:02:49
- 2011-02-04 · QUESTION FRIDAY: Spelling is Hard Edition — ask: John: Before downloading, readers are 'ethically obligated' to comment thanking everyone who donated, without whom the 'terrible' novella would not exist. (playful) — 00:02:06
- 2011-05-05 · IT'S HANKO DE MAYO!! — John: Hank oversaw the 2010 Project for Awesome, which John says raised more than $150,000 for charity. — 00:01:46
- 2026-01-20 · Am I ... Good? — John had almost entirely forgotten Zombicorns, but that night, perhaps because of a couple glasses of whiskey, he decided to reread it. (hedged) — 00:00:00