Cat Video Festival returns to US Published duration 1 April 2013

image caption Some 10,000 people attended the first Cat Video Festival in 2012

A second festival dedicated to celebrating internet videos of cats is due to take place in Minnesota in August 2013.

Some 10,000 people gathered at the inaugural event last summer, hosted by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

This year's attendees are once again invited to nominate their favourite feline-themed viral videos to be played on a big screen at the event

The festival will also now come to Brooklyn, New York, later in the year.

The video judged the best at last year's festival featured a cat called Henri , described on his own website as "the world's first and foremost feline philosopher".

Director Will Bradon described the award as "a great honour" and is planning to unveil new material at the 2013 event.

Short videos of "cute" animal behaviour are often popular on video websites such as YouTube and Vimeo, but cats seem to be a perennial favourite.

A one minute film of a cat "hugging" its kitten uploaded in May 2011 has been seen more than 50 million times on YouTube since it went viral after being posted on social news website Reddit.

"I think [cats] are easier to anthropomorphise and harder to herd," said Plymouth University Professor Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine, in an interview with website knowyourmeme.com on the reason why cats are such an internet hit.