Bridgestone Firestone is once again turning to its corporate hometown of Nashville to find ten or more people who will become the face of their new national print campaign, including the gay and lesbian market.

An open casting call for models (no experience is necessary) will be held on Nov. 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. at PLAY Dance Bar, 1519 Church Street and at the Cannery Ballroom, Eighth Avenue South, on Wednesday Nov. 16 from 6 to 9 p.m.

Last year was the first year a model search was held in Nashville and more than 92 people came to the open casting call at Play. Joe Woolley, Justin Shephard, Shelby Hall and Alicia Hodge were selected for the GLBT campaign.

The model search, sponsored by Bridgestone Firestone, Gish Sherwood & Friends, PLAY Dance Bar, The Cannery Ballroom, The Nashville Scene and Out & About Newspaper, will be looking for a diverse group of models for several campaigns, including GLBT, African American, Hispanic, and Mass Reach. The gay and lesbian print ads will run in national publications like Out, Genre, Curve, Girlfriends, The Advocate, Instinct and local GLBT newspapers like Out & About Newspaper and The Southern Voice.

The diversity marketing, which includes the gay and lesbian community, the Hispanic community, the African-American community and the mainstream community, is part of Bridgestone Firestone’s efforts to recognize and respect those community members.

“It’s not about just running ads,” explained Michael Fluck, advertising and Internet manager for Bridgestone Firestone (which includes diversity marketing and all national brand advertising). “It’s about creating respect for our diverse base of customers - the whole package.”

Five judges will rate each participant on their overall appearance. If you want to participate, Fluck said you have to be over the age of 18, arrive in casual clothes, register and appear before the panel of judges. “That’s it,” he said. “Nothing complicated. The participants will be photographed. The judges will score them on their overall appearance and campaign appropriateness, and the winners will be notified at a later date.”

Models selected will be paid $2,500.

Fluck said last year’s method of selecting local models was very successful and credited Laramey Lawson, senior vice president and media director at Gish Sherwood & Friends, for having the idea.

“Laramey thought it would be great to have the community involved and have the interaction of the communities that we are reaching out to,” Fluck said. “We certainly discovered new talent last year and hope to discover new talent this year.”

Registration at Play is on Sunday Nov. 13 from 6 to 7 p.m. with auditions from 6 to 8 p.m.; registration at The Cannery is on Wednesday Nov. 16 from 6 to 7 p.m. with auditions from 6 to 9 p.m.