11/09/2009

Click here to read more...

FRIDAY HARBOR, WA - A family from Orlando, FL and a 27 year-old teacher from Olympia, WA have been judged the winners in the first annual San Juan Islands Vacation Video Contest. The contest, which closed at midnight on October 31, garnered 52 approved entries (out of more than 60 submitted), and in just four months totaled nearly 13,000 video views on YouTube alone.

The Grand Prize - lodging, dinner, and activities worth an approximate retail value of $5,367 - was won by Kristin Marciochi of Olympia for her video entitled "San Juans Trip". Marciochi recalled her excitement upon being notified. "When I first read that I won, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't even catch my breath!" With her husband Nate, the couple spent "three wonderful days up there and we had a ball. We had a great, great time!"

Marciochi said she was online researching the possibility of a short three-day vacation for the couple in mid-August before preparations for the school year began. Looking for hotel reservations on the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau web site, she came across a link to sanjuanislandsTV.com. There she saw the promotional video announcing the contest. "I really didn't think we'd win, but we had a ball doing it!" She also indicated that as a teacher they don't necessarily have the means to vacation whenever they want to, but now that they've won, "we are so excited knowing we have some mini-getaways we can use this winter in the islands!"

First Prize, a $1,000 Family Camp Weekend at Canoe Island French Camp, went to the Wheelers of Orlando. "We are very, very happy!" Exclaimed Grant Wheeler, dad and editor. As they had so thoroughly enjoyed their first-ever family vacation in the San Juan Islands, "we were going online everyday to see who won." Wheeler, a freelance graphic and web designer, says they really, really wanted to come back. They even put a graphic at the end of their video asking people to tell others to watch it, in hopes that more views would equal more votes.

"Since we weren't looking for professional videos, the ‘cuteness' factor was definitely in their favor," recounts Lisa O'Brien of sanjuanislandsTV.com, one of the judges. "They had 5-year old Lexis do the voice over, and she was just so cute!" As the Wheelers were visiting during the Fourth of July, they became intrigued with the Pig War Crisis. As a result, they "reworked" the lyrics to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire". Watching the video, and hearing little Lexis sing "we didn't start the Pig War" over and over will make "just about anyone chuckle", laughs O'Brien.

Deborah Hopkins, Executive Director of the Visitors Bureau and one of the judges and contest sponsors, hopes to launch next years contest before Valentines Day. "We get a lot of visitors then. It would be great to have it for President's Day in January, too." Hopkins also hopes to see more visitor oriented businesses involved, both as participants and in promoting the contest, as she understands the potential of such social networking sites as YouTube for generating tourism interest at the grass roots level.

The Grand Prize winning entry is currently the featured video on the home page at http://www.sanjuanislandstv.com/. Next to that is a link to the First Prize video, the "San Juan Islands Wheeler Family Vacation Entry".

"There were so many wonderful entries, it wasn't easy choosing just two winners," explained O'Brien. "We plan on posting some honorable mentions, too. But you'll never hear that Billy Joel song the same way again!"