Elton John is giving undiscovered creative talent the chance to make official music videos for three of his most iconic songs, with the support of YouTube and Pulse Films, in a global competition that launches today (December 12th).

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of his songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin, 'Elton John: The Cut' is giving applicants the chance to create and submit music video treatments for Elton John classics of the pre-music video era: Rocket Man, Tiny Dancer and Bennie And The Jets.

With contest details and advice on entering available at eltonjohn.com/thecut, the competition officially opens to the public and accepting entries from January 9th 2017. A different artistic element will be highlighted in each song: submissions for Rocket Man will feature animation, Tiny Dancer will be live action, and Bennie And The Jets will feature choreography.

Applicants will have to provide a 90 second video treatment to demonstrate how they would realise the chosen track. The competition closes on January 23rd.

Together with a panel of YouTube creators and celebrated music and industry judges, Elton John and his writing partner Bernie Taupin will select three winners from the submissions. Then YouTube will provide support for the applicants of the winning submissions in providing the resources to realise their visions, from funding the productions to using YouTube Space facilities. And Pulse Films will also be supporting the production of the final music videos.

The winning videos will be premiered on YouTube in the summer of 2017. YouTube are also awarding the prize fund of $10,000 to the winning creators to support future video-based creative projects.

Elton John comments, “We’re excited to partner with YouTube to bring together generations of artists and music lovers around a shared passion for storytelling. YouTube is a rich tapestry of creativity, and I can’t wait to see how the breadth of talent from the dance, live-action and animation communities apply their vision to these cherished songs.”

• 'Elton John: The Cut' competition details here