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!
Posted: Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pm. Filed in Community, contests, Video.
Tags: American Thanksgiving, contests, Thanksgiving, ThanksgivingContest09, US Thanksgiving, Video, WordPress
Nov 20th at 6:03 pm
Hmm… sounds cool!
And 1st comment(I think)!
Nov 20th at 6:04 pm
sounds nice!
Nov 20th at 6:17 pm
Might try it…!
Nov 20th at 6:39 pm
Neat. Might have to give this a try. I’d be thankful for those prizes
Nov 20th 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?
Nov 20th at 7:06 pm
I will be entering this
Nov 20th at 7:28 pm
This is going to be interesting.
Nov 20th at 7:29 pm
What a great way to give thanks…and win prizes!!
Nov 20th at 7:46 pm
Interesting! You should hold more contests including writing competitions!
Nov 20th at 7:57 pm
I may enter, I might not be bothered though…
This is a really good idea!
Nov 20th at 8:06 pm
Cool! I hope I can submit a video.
Nov 20th 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…
Nov 20th at 9:02 pm
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 20th at 9:46 pm
I will be entering this thanks.
Nov 20th at 10:23 pm
Just another reason why I am thankful for WP! Your creativity never ends.
Nov 20th 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!
Nov 21st at 12:31 am
So many ideas already popping into my head!!
Nov 21st 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.
Nov 21st at 1:22 am
Okay, I will try to dredge up some creativity buried within me for this.
Nov 21st 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!!!
Nov 21st at 1:56 am
AND if you hate twighlight what on gods green earth are you thinking.
Nov 21st at 4:11 am
Although I don’t know..
But.. Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 21st at 6:45 am
My brainy brain is too tired to even consider these video shenanigans.
I will stop by your online shop though
Nov 21st at 9:25 am
good sound thank
Nov 21st 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!!!
Nov 21st at 12:41 pm
It is good to know that the contest is open to everyone.
Nov 21st at 1:41 pm
will think about this
Nov 21st at 2:34 pm
wow nice
Nov 21st at 7:37 pm
Hey now there is a nice project to do!! Might go about it and give it a shot!!!
Nov 22nd at 2:35 am
It seems interesanting
Nov 22nd at 3:00 am
cooool…..
Nov 22nd at 5:48 am
sounds interesting, really … ^_^!
Nov 22nd at 11:14 am
will also think about this
Nov 22nd at 12:18 pm
really got my undivided attention with this one!
thank you wordpress! today is even the first day of my account!
Nov 22nd at 12:44 pm
fantastic
Nov 22nd at 2:16 pm
WWOOOOwww!!!
Nov 22nd 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.
Nov 22nd at 4:05 pm
Happy Thanksgiving…!
Nov 22nd at 6:09 pm
oooh
sweet!
Nov 22nd at 10:47 pm
I can’t do a video, but just wanted to say thank you for wordpress:)
Nov 23rd at 1:15 am
ah, under 30sec??? guess I have to delete it, and shorten it by 1min then;)
Nov 23rd at 2:56 am
I think i will enter this
Nov 23rd at 4:54 am
This is cool! just wish the date was extended since I always travel for Turkey Day…
Nov 23rd 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?
Nov 24th at 1:20 pm
Nope! You can record using any way you like
Nov 23rd at 11:57 am
YEs! Nice!
Nov 23rd 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.
Nov 23rd at 9:38 pm
I second the writing contest comment – let’s have some!
Nov 24th at 6:38 am
ok let see!
Nov 24th at 2:22 pm
How do you embed a video if you don’t have VideoPress?
Nov 24th at 5:03 pm
To learn how to embed video on WordPress.com, check out our handy Support resources.
Nov 24th at 5:59 pm
video contest?? nice… But I can’t join this contest, because I don’t have video,.
Nov 24th at 10:36 pm
Hey there! I am Jared and I would love to enter! But how do you embed a video?
Nov 25th at 1:43 am
Check out the help pages at support.wordpress.com about video.
Nov 24th 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!
Nov 25th 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!
Nov 25th at 4:43 am
yeah.. how come there are so few videos that the tag is generating??
Nov 25th at 6:34 am
pretty cool….!!!!!1111111
Nov 26th at 4:48 am
Whoops, i think i’m too late. So i can’t wait to see the winner is. Congrats then.
Nov 26th at 8:56 am
Oh, I read this way too late
I’ll keep a lookout for the winners though.
Nov 26th at 12:59 pm
Happy Thanksgiving America.
Your friend, Canada~
=P Have a good one guys…
Nov 27th at 2:48 am
This is an interesting contest. Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 27th at 10:01 am
sounds very nice!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 28th at 1:50 pm
I think it’s cool though am new here I will be trying next time, keep it up wp.
Nov 29th at 9:26 pm
happy thanks giving
Nov 30th at 12:54 pm
so nice
Dec 1st at 2:35 am
sounds good
Dec 1st at 3:02 am
HAVE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (drum roll going on) HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (Party sounds go on with the song Celabration)
Dec 1st 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″
Dec 1st at 6:22 pm
Submitting in Dutch won’t make a difference. We’ll see your entry in the nl language tag pages.
Dec 1st at 11:31 pm
My post is also not appearing on the tag page for “ThanksgivingContest09″. Why?
Dec 1st at 11:37 pm
Can you please send us a note in WordPress.com support so we can take a closer look?
Dec 3rd at 8:03 pm
Wish I could post embeded code from Blip.tv, I’d enter something.
Dec 4th at 3:13 pm
You can! See the Blip.tv help page for details.