What’s next for YouTube’s NextUp competition?

More 800 million YouTube users need their YouTube news. Andy Smith is determined to give it to them.

Since 2007, the Ohio-based YouTuber has delivered the latest in community news, with stories ranging from the alarming to the heartwarming. Smith is on the topics that you want to know and the stories that you need to know, and he’ll tell you how they’ll both affect your time on site.

Every Wednesday, the Daily Dot spotlights a video from Smith’s triweekly updated Lion’s Den channel.

This week, Smith dissects YouTube’s NextUp competition, surveys a few changes in the coming year for YouTube’s On The Rise series, and looks back on his favorite video moments of 2012.

Photo via The Lion’s Den News/YouTube