WordPress.com Video Contest: Giving Thanks
Announcing our first-ever video contest, brought to you by turkey, stuffing, and that gelatinous stuff that grandma calls cranberry sauce. Yes, that’s American Thanksgiving. Appropriate to the occasion, the topic is giving thanks.
While it’s inspired by the holiday, it’s in no way limited to residents of the U.S. Whether you’re in Jacksonville, Jakarta or Johannesburg, you’re invited to take stock of all that you’re thankful for, and share it with the WordPress community through video.
To enter the contest, embed your video in a blog post tagged with ThanksgivingContest09, any time between November 23 and 27. We’ll announce the winners the following week.
We’re looking for creative interpretations on the topic, not confessional-style orated lists. Maybe it’s a montage of tiny moments that fill you with joy, a mini-documentary of your family traditions, or a strange stop-motion adventure about the things you treasure most. Check out our announcement video for even more ideas:
While there’s no limit to the ways you can express yourself, we do have two requests:
- Keep it rated G (obviously).
- Keep it under 30 seconds. It sounds short but, trust us, you can fit a lot of amazing things into that timeframe.
Videos that don’t meet those two requirements will be disqualified.
The first place winner will receive a one-year subscription to the VideoPress upgrade (or an additional year, for those who already have it), along with a sleek new Flip Mino HD camera!
For the runners-up, there’s lovely WordPress apparel and mugs, plus a very special WordPress Moleskine notebook, not available in our online shop.
The contest ends at midnight Pacific time (UTC -8) on November 27. To translate that to your timezone, you can calculate it on The World Clock.
If you aren’t sure how to embed video on WordPress.com, check out our handy Support resources. You can even upload videos straight to your Media Library, with the VideoPress upgrade.
All best to our contestants. We look forward to seeing what your brainy brains come up with!


November 20th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Hmm… sounds cool!
And 1st comment(I think)!
November 20th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
sounds nice!
November 20th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Might try it…!
November 20th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Neat. Might have to give this a try. I’d be thankful for those prizes
November 20th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
How fun! I guess I’m going to have to figure out how to embed video afterall. Can I be thankful for that?
November 20th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
I will be entering this
November 20th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
This is going to be interesting.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
What a great way to give thanks…and win prizes!!
November 20th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Interesting! You should hold more contests including writing competitions!
November 20th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I may enter, I might not be bothered though…
This is a really good idea!
November 20th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Cool! I hope I can submit a video.
November 20th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Cool idea, but, could I make it a page on my blog? I don’t really want a video on the immediate page…
November 20th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 20th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
I will be entering this thanks.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Just another reason why I am thankful for WP! Your creativity never ends.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Great prizes! Count me in! I hope there’s lots of runner-ups: My WordPress moleskin notebook (which I won for my tattoo at WordCamp 2008!) is about full and a bit bedraggled!
November 21st, 2009 at 12:31 am
So many ideas already popping into my head!!
November 21st, 2009 at 1:03 am
sounds like a great idea, although I’m not in the US, and for us over here in Australia, Thanks Giving has no relevance for us. But an excellent incentive and idea.
November 21st, 2009 at 1:22 am
Okay, I will try to dredge up some creativity buried within me for this.
November 21st, 2009 at 1:55 am
OME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant wait i am so going to have to put one up so i can get that video camera.oh and if you want o comment on this go to my page all about meg.oh and did you see new moon i cant wait till i go to see it on sunday my mom went to see it and she says it was packed and people were saving seats and even hole rows and i cant wait my mom said people were sleeping and one girl had must of lost a bet cause she was yelling and was doing cart wheles and was yelling go team Edward.LOL!!!
November 21st, 2009 at 1:56 am
AND if you hate twighlight what on gods green earth are you thinking.
November 21st, 2009 at 4:11 am
Although I don’t know..
But.. Happy Thanksgiving!
November 21st, 2009 at 6:45 am
My brainy brain is too tired to even consider these video shenanigans.
I will stop by your online shop though
November 21st, 2009 at 9:25 am
good sound thank
November 21st, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Our Mom turned 90 this year, and my brother-in-law created a dvd commemorating her life (thanks Don!) I’m going to let him know about this, as he recently retired (early!) and has time on his hands, I think!
Great idea!
Oh, and I may as well promote my opera singing niece here, as she just arrived in NYC and is incredibly talented, looking for a job. Laura Kay! You want to hear her sing!!! She belongs on a stage with Josh Grobin!!!
November 21st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
It is good to know that the contest is open to everyone.
November 21st, 2009 at 1:41 pm
will think about this
November 21st, 2009 at 2:34 pm
wow nice
November 21st, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Hey now there is a nice project to do!! Might go about it and give it a shot!!!
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:35 am
It seems interesanting
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:00 am
cooool…..
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:48 am
sounds interesting, really … ^_^!
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:14 am
will also think about this
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:18 pm
really got my undivided attention with this one!
thank you wordpress! today is even the first day of my account!
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
fantastic
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:16 pm
WWOOOOwww!!!
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:46 pm
This sounds like a fun contest! I’ve got an idea for what I’d like to do, but I know I’ll procrastinate, so I won’t.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Happy Thanksgiving…!
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:09 pm
oooh
sweet!
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:47 pm
I can’t do a video, but just wanted to say thank you for wordpress:)
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 am
ah, under 30sec??? guess I have to delete it, and shorten it by 1min then;)
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:56 am
I think i will enter this
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:54 am
This is cool! just wish the date was extended since I always travel for Turkey Day…
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:21 am
I want to ask…
Is there a specification in the movie we make…such as it must be high quality or must be taken from camera with high resolution?
November 24th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Nope! You can record using any way you like
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:57 am
YEs! Nice!
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
What a great way to convey my thanks to all those who have helped me to get where I am today.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I second the writing contest comment – let’s have some!
November 24th, 2009 at 6:38 am
ok let see!
November 24th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
How do you embed a video if you don’t have VideoPress?
November 24th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
To learn how to embed video on WordPress.com, check out our handy Support resources.
November 24th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
video contest?? nice… But I can’t join this contest, because I don’t have video,.
November 24th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Hey there! I am Jared and I would love to enter! But how do you embed a video?
November 25th, 2009 at 1:43 am
Check out the help pages at support.wordpress.com about video.
November 24th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
lol like many others I need to figure out how to embed a video! But ill defintally will have to try this!
November 25th, 2009 at 12:02 am
I took a look yesterday – and there was only one posted. Great to see a few others today! I really like “One Man’s Noise” so far! Hoping to get to make something and post – we’ll see – have to finish NaNoWriMo first! Happy Thanksgiving World!
November 25th, 2009 at 4:43 am
yeah.. how come there are so few videos that the tag is generating??
November 25th, 2009 at 6:34 am
pretty cool….!!!!!1111111
November 26th, 2009 at 4:48 am
Whoops, i think i’m too late. So i can’t wait to see the winner is. Congrats then.
November 26th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Oh, I read this way too late
I’ll keep a lookout for the winners though.
November 26th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Happy Thanksgiving America.
Your friend, Canada~
=P Have a good one guys…
November 27th, 2009 at 2:48 am
This is an interesting contest. Happy Thanksgiving!
November 27th, 2009 at 10:01 am
sounds very nice!
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 28th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I think it’s cool though am new here I will be trying next time, keep it up wp.
November 29th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
happy thanks giving
November 30th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
so nice
December 1st, 2009 at 2:35 am
sounds good
December 1st, 2009 at 3:02 am
HAVE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (drum roll going on) HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (Party sounds go on with the song Celabration)
December 1st, 2009 at 1:38 pm
hello,
i also submitted a little video – but my blog is normally in dutch – does that makes any difference? I’m asking because i don’t see my post appearing with the other submissions when i click on the tag “ThanksgivingContest09″
December 1st, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Submitting in Dutch won’t make a difference. We’ll see your entry in the nl language tag pages.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:31 pm
My post is also not appearing on the tag page for “ThanksgivingContest09″. Why?
December 1st, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Can you please send us a note in WordPress.com support so we can take a closer look?
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Wish I could post embeded code from Blip.tv, I’d enter something.
December 4th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
You can! See the Blip.tv help page for details.