The Winning Videos

Here's a link to see the list of winning videos: Click here.
Grand Prize is Brett Slater (first video); Second Prize is Lorraine Aromando (second video); Third Prizes are in random order (but names as their videos appear on the playlist) - Aaron Megquier, Jon Wadick, Oakley Dyer, Tim Gagnon, Tim Hart, Kristy Ferran, Mike LeVecchia, Holly Austin; and REALTOR winner - Callie Pecunies (last video).

Or use this viewer: (note: We can't figure out why the Grain Surfboards video isn't working on the viewer playlist below)

Initial Finalists Notified

The judging was completed earlier today; and the initial Finalists have been notified by email of details to complete the legal affidavit part of the requirements. Should any Finalist(s) be disqualified or ineligible, additional contest applicants may be notified (in order of scoring) prior to the public announcement on June 28.

Update on the Contest and Recent Questions

1. Timing: We are still waiting to get final input from judges. We had hoped Finalist notification could be "on" June 11, but will clearly be "about" then instead. As soon as judging is completed, we will send email or call the Finalists. We will post when all the initial contacts are completed (but not names of Finalists). Please note, the contest rules provide that there is a legal part after becoming a Finalist. Should anyone (or more than 1) not be able to be ruled a contest winner due to the legal part then others will be notified they are a Finalist and they'll then do the legal part. Contact can happen anytime prior to our final announcements by June 28.

2. List of all winners: The final list of winners will be announced and posted by June 28.

3. Special event at Sea Dogs: Winners will be invited to the Sea Dogs game on June 28 (and get 2 tickets). We're doing check presentations as part of the pre-game and hope to show the winning video on the "big screen". However, there is certainly no obligation to attend in order to receive the check.

4. Videos that aren't posted: There are a few videos that were never posted for the contest judging. And that has been by far the most painful part of this entire process. We are very aware that all of the videos involved time, effort and potentially costs to create. But the contest includes rules provided to everyone and posted via the contest site in April -- and they're very specific. For example, the rules said the deadline was 11:59:59 PM on June 2, video had to be under 3 minutes in length, the content had to conform to certain content requirements (e.g., specific to the theme), no violation of trademarks or copyrights, etc. For example, those that posted to YouTube on time but not to the YPOM contest site on YouTube on time were too late (the step by step instructions for "submit a video" on the contest page). Any technical difficulty experienced by a user on the last day (or last hour or last minutes) of the contest couldn't change the deadline. As noted, the videos that become the Finalists still have a legal review for a separate assurance of meeting the contest requirements. Yes, we regret that every video didn't meet the rules as posted. It was our deepest hope that with the length of time we gave to submit videos that all the steps would be followed by everyone.

Update on the Judging

The videos are still in the process of being judged. We're still hopeful to be able to contact the Finalists by June 11.

WOW - Thank you for the great videos!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered such excellent videos! We're now past the deadline for videos to be submitted and entering the judging portion.

Check out the videos on You Tube.

Deadline is June 2

Don't forget the deadline to enter our You Tube contest is June 2, 2008. First prize: $20,000; Second prize: $5000; (8) Third prizes: $1000. Separate $5,000 for REALTORS and/or their family members. Be creative, be fun, be on time.

Answers to Common Questions

1. Prize money can be used for a down payment, renovation, mortgage payments, or any other use you may have. There is no requirement for how to use it.

2. It's fine to do a 30-second video, 1 minute video, or any time shorter than 3 minutes.

3. Here's instructions for getting the video submitted to the You Tube group - First, Register for a You Tube account if not an existing member already (it's free!)

• Join the YouTube YPOM group -- http://www.youtube.com/group/yourpieceofmaine
• Go to your You Tube account
• In the upper right hand corner click the yellow “Upload” button to bring your video onto the site (this will likely take a few minutes)
• Once the video is uploaded, in the YouTube YPOM group page click “Add Videos”
• At the “Add Videos” page you will then see your uploaded video, check off the box next to the video itself and click “Add to Group”
• You’ve just uploaded your video the YPOM group. It's then reviewed to ensure it meets the contest requirements, then approved. Good luck!