Posted by Jenn Lowther and Nadia Nascimento

Funny, useful, and effective tips to wining video contests.

1. Enroll in speed dating. Talk about your entry with the eligible bachelors and bachelorettes that you meet. Try to enroll in speed dating that’s below your league; your potential partners will be more interested in what you say and will therefore be more likely to vote for you.

2. Create an overly personal and sexual entry. Sell it to the tabloids under a fake name. Shame your family and collect your winnings.

3. Create a ‘making of’ your contest entry and post it on YouTube. Preferably, make it absolutely mortifyingly embarrassing for you; people will take more pleasure in watching it.

4. Create a top ten list detailing why you should win. Post it on Digg.

5. Include Chuck Norris in your entry. Chuck Norris will never get old; Chuck Norris created contests.

6. Get a popular blogger to mention your entry in a daily post - even if it’s making fun of you.

7. Get a keg and throw a party for all of your friends, their friends and their friend’s friends; entry at the door will require a vote for your entry. If you don’t have any friends, visit your local Legion or dive bar and yell ‘FREE BEER!’ Try not to get your ass handed to you by the bouncers on your way out. This will also work with groups of surly teenagers; you can often find them at bus stations.

8. Write a ‘letter to the editor’ of your local newspaper promoting your contest entry and how relevant it is to hot issues in your city. The more of a stretch it is the better!

9. Raffle off a date with you (or your hot sister) to anyone who votes for you. If you are awkward or unattractive and are not blessed with hot siblings, you may want to try giving away your car or some of your Mom’s extra crap.

10. Create an online identity; a really ridiculous but still believable character works best. Get your identity a twitter, MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal and every other social networking site out there. Get popular (or hated) this may take some time. Then, when the time is right, promote your contest entry and watch your casual readers turn into voters.

11. Accost a local TV news reporter while they are doing a live story on the street and use your live air time to promote your entry. For added effect, rent a large furry animal costume.

12. Hold bake sales. Raise enough money to purchase the company holding the contest, fire its employees and rig it.

13. Offer to donate part of your prize to the punk kids in your neighborhood in exchange for their help. Enlist them to threaten local residents with random dog-shavings and car-paintings if they do not vote for your entry. Or be a Good Samaritan and donate part of the proceeds to charity.

14. Enter yourself into a local beauty pageant, talent show or open mic; use your time on stage to talk about your contest entry. For added effect, threaten your own life with a deadly weapon if audience members do not vote for you.

15. Rent a blimp and a megaphone. You know what comes next.

16. Do something of questionable legality with your contest entry. Ensure that your defense will hold up in court but give people reason to doubt. Word will spread fast.

è La Station Mont Tremblant a lancé un concours de vidéo virale pour coïncider avec le début de la saison estivale et des nouvelles activités de plein air qu’elle offrira au cours des quatre prochains mois. Située dans les superbes montagnes des Laurentides du Québec, au Canada, la Station Mont Tremblant offre le cadre parfait pour des vacances d’hiver et des escapades d’été grâce à ses 600 acres de terrain de ski et de planche à neige, à un village pittoresque et à un choix d’activités allant de l’équitation au plus beau terrain de golf au Québec, en passant par le rafting et le kayak. La Station Mont Tremblant fournit tous les outils nécessaires pour des vacances parfaites; toutefois, son personnel est quand même au courant des nombreuses histoires d’horreur de vacanciers autour du monde qui n’ont pas eu l’occasion de passer des vacances parfaites à la Station. Le concours de vidéo « Vacances parfaites » organisé par la Station Mont Tremblant offre au public la chance de partager les histoires de leurs pires vacances dans l’espoir d’en gagner des parfaites.

Les participants peuvent ouvrir une session au www.vacancesparfaites.com, télécharger une vidéo dans laquelle ils décrivent leur pire voyage et demander au public de voter pour la pire histoire de vacances. L’infamie du Web suffit peut-être pour motiver les vacanciers qui sont tombés malades dans un pays étranger ou dont l’agent de voyage a fiché le camp, mais les trois personnes qui auront généré le plus grand nombre de votes à trois dates d’échéance différentes gagneront un voyage pour quatre personnes qui leur permettra de profiter de toutes les attractions sensationnelles offertes par la Station Mont Tremblant. Le concours est maintenant ouvert pour recevoir des soumissions et se terminera le 31 août 2007.

Posted by Nadia Nascimento

Mont Tremblant Resort has launched a viral video contest to coincide with the beginning of the Summer season and the new outdoor activities that they will be providing over the next four months. Based in the beautiful Laurentian mountains of Quebec, Canada, Mont Tremblant Resort offers the perfect setting for winter vacations and summer escapes with over 600 aces of skiing and snowboarding terrain, a picturesque village with activities ranging from horseback riding, rafting and kayaking to the best golf course in QuÈbec. Mont Tremblant Resort provides all of the tools for a perfect vacation; however, they are aware of the many horror stories from vacationers around the world who have not had the opportunity to have a perfect vacation at the Tremblant Resort. The ‘Perfect Vacations’ video contest hosted by Mont Tremblant Resort offers the public an opportunity to share their stories of their worst vacation in hopes to win a perfect one.

Participants can log in at www.vacancesparfaites.com, upload a video of themselves explaining their worst trip and ask the public to decide through votes on the worst vacation story. Web infamy may be incentive enough for vacationers who may have fallen ill in a foreign country, or a travel agent that skipped town, however, three winning prizes for generating the most votes selected over three separate deadlines will receive a trip for themselves and three of their friends to experience all of the amazing features that Mont Tremblant Resort has to offer. The contest is now open to submissions and will close on August 31st, 2007.