CrackBerry's BeBold Video Contest: Win a FREE trip to BlackBerry World 2012 in Orlando!

Win this contest and that can be YOU leading the pack into the BBWorld Keynote!

OK CrackBerry Nation, it's time for yet another AWESOME CrackBerry Video contest! We've seen a ton of passion in our community over the past few weeks. People are CLEARLY excited for BlackBerry 10 phones and we're seeing a lot of Boldness in the comments and in the forums from anybody who argues otherwise. So it's time to BeBold on camera and you could win a trip to BlackBerry World 2012 -- the BIGGEST BLACKBERRY EVENT OF THE YEAR -- in CrackBerry's BeBold Video Contest!

Following our EPIC video contests of the past, like the BlackBerry Super Fanboy Contest, the What the What Would You Do for a BlackBerry Storm? and I Love My BlackBerry contests, this is a VIDEO contest. To enter for your chance to win, you're going to have to put in the time and effort to create a video or commercial putting the BlackBerry BeBold slogan into it. Yes, it's harder than leaving a comment to a blog post for a chance to win, but the odds will be in your favor and the prize for winning this contest will make it sooo worth the effort. Full contest details are below (must be USA/Canada to win the trip, but International participants can win prizes too), so keep reading. The timing on this one is a little tight, so you don't want to waste time... get thinking and make your video! This is going to be a fun one!!  

GRAND PRIZE: A trip to Orlando to attend BlackBerry World 2012 (May 1st to 3rd - includes airfare for one, 3 Nights Stay at the Orlando World Center Marriott, a BlackBerry World event pass and dinner out one night with the CrackBerry team). We'll throw in some other goodies as well! 

2 RUNNER UP FINALIST BLACKBERRY BeBold PRIZE PACKS: $100 in free BlackBerry Accessories from ShopCrackBerry.com, a BeBold t-shirt, #TeamBlackBerry stickers, a CrackBerry book and more!

 

STEP 1: Make Your BeBold BlackBerry video or commercial!

BeBold. We're going to leave it pretty open for you to figure out how to show off your Boldness. Some ideas that came to our minds... Make a BeBold commercial showing off the virtues of BlackBerry. Or do something whacky that proves you are Bold (ever see CrackBerry Kevin's Sexy and I Know it video?). We suggest checking out some of the finalist entries from our past video contests, like our Super Fanboy Contest - you'll want to do something original and awesome!

Get Creative! We're looking to be entertained or blown away here - make us laugh, make us cry, make us go WOW. We want to watch the video and think to ourselves.... wow, this person really loves BlackBerry... they're definitely BOLD.

 

Video Requirements

• We expect most videos should be in the range of 45 seconds to 3 minutes in length. On the shorter side is fine if you're doing something super clever (ie. short commercial) and videos can go longer right up to the 15 minute youtube max (ie. if you're putting together a mini-feature film sort of thing), but keep in mind if you go long it better be FREAK'n AMAZING to hold our short attention spans that long.
• We don't expect videos to have Hollywood type production quality, but in the year 2012 we do want the quality of the video/audio itself to be pretty decent. The video should be recorded in HD (borrow a camera if you have to) and the sound quality should be easy to listen to. We don't want to see crappy video/sound quality distract from what otherwise would be a great video.
• At some point during the video you must use the word BlackBerry or CrackBerry and use or display the BeBold line. That should be pretty easy to do seeing as you're making a video around the notion of BeBold! But what we don't want to see or hear are call outs to the contest itself. No "I want to win CrackBerry's BeBold Contest, pick me!" kind of stuff. We want people who don't even know about the contest to be able to stumble upon it on youtube, watch it, and go... wow... this person is Bold.
• If your video is selected as a finalist it will be uploaded to our CrackBerry youtube account. As such, all videos must conform to youtube community guidelines.
• All videos must be originally produced for this contest. No re-hashing old or other videos.

Other than that, we're leaving it wide open for you to get creative!

STEP 2: Submit your Video

• Your video must be submitted to CrackBerry by midnight PST on Sunday, April 15th.
• To submit your video, please first upload your finished video to your public DropBox folder (get a DropBox account for free here if you don't have one) and create the public url for it (right click on the file and select "copy public link").
• Next, send an email to [email protected]. Please use the email subject "BeBold Contest Video Entry" and in the message provide the link to your video file on dropbox, your name, contact info, and give us any background information on your video entry that you think we should know. For example: where it was filmed, who was involved, your thought process, how you came up with your BeBold idea, etc. If we post the video to the CrackBerry blogs as a finalist we'll need this background info to help set the stage for your video, so the more detail you send us the better. We sometimes like to post the "story/background" text into the blog post you send in as is. Iif we post your video as a finalist we'll be putting it to use, so give it some effort to make sure it's good.
• We will email you back within 24 hours to confirm we received your entry and video all good. If for some reason you do not hear back from us within that timeframe, send an email to [email protected].

 

From the entries submitted, our initial judging panel will narrow the entry selection down to our top finalists (likely top three or five, depending on the number of entries we receive and how hard it is to separate the best from the rest).

How will the finalists be chosen? We're looking for the "Awesome" and "Wow" factor: Wow that was creative, Wow that was funny, Wow that was nuts! Wow that was clever. Wow, BlackBerry should do advertising like this. So WOW us!

Each finalist video will receive its own individual blog post on the CrackBerry blogs and the CrackBerry community will have a chance to provide their feedback on the videos in the comments to each respective entry. Once all of the finalist videos have been posted, we'll run a summary post recapping all of the finalist videos, along with a poll to allow readers to vote and let the final judging panel know who their favorite is. The final judging panel will take the community votes into account when selecting the winners, but the final decision will come down to the judging panel (we don't want to see it turn into a contest for recruiting voters or trying to game online polling systems).

All said and done, we plan to announce the winner as early as possible the week following the contest deadline. We'll want to book the airplane ticket asap.

The timeline for booking the winner's trip will be a little tight to the BlackBerry World event, so if you're making a video and aiming to win, be sure to plan on keeping May 1st to 3rd available for the trip.

 

Other Details and Fine Print - if you're entering the contest, READ THIS!

• Disclaimer #1: Keep in mind these videos will be posted on youtube and on CrackBerry.com. Get appropriate consent by anybody appearing in your video.
• Disclaimer #2: While we love seeing zany and outrageous stuff, don't do anything that'll put you or anybody in your video at risk of suffering personal injury. CrackBerry.com will not be held responsible. If you take part in producing a video for this contest, you assume all risk.
• Disclaimer #3: The grand prize winner will be required to sign a Winner Release and Indemnity form before attending the BlackBerry World event.
• You can have as many people in your video as you like, but it will only be counted as one entry (one prize winner per video submission). The person who submits the entry to us will be the individual we consider as the winner. You may want to give your friends a big hug or buy them a beer for assistance they provide you in making your video.
• Eligibility: No purchase necessary to enter. Must be 18 years of age to win the grand prize. Video entries will be accepted from anywhere in the world, but English should be the primary language used for the video. Note - the winner of the Grand Prize Package must reside in continental North America (due to airfare coverage). Should the best video come from outside of North America, we'll do our best to make everybody happy here. The next best video from continental North America will be awarded the BlackBerry World travel package portion of the prize, and we'll try and do up something cool for the additional International grand prize winner.
• *Grand Prize Winner Details: Should the winner of the BlackBerry World travel package choose to, they may bring a significant other, spouse or friend along with them at their expense. We will provide the airfare for the winner. If you want to have a guest attend and cover their airfare, you can have two people stay in the hotel room and a companion pass can be attained for your guest (plus your guest can come to the CrackBerry dinner!). CrackBerry will cover the airfare, hotel room for three nights (room rate only - you're on the hook for incidentals and mini bar), the cost of the BlackBerry World event pass, and we'll pick up the tab for dinner out with the CrackBerry team. If the winner lives within driving distance and doesn't require airfare, we'll simply not provide that part of the prize (and make your CrackBerry dinner extra awesome!). Other costs -- shopping, meals, travel to from airport, etc. -- are not covered. Plan to fly out on April 30th or May 1st and home on May 3rd or May 4th (we'll work out the final details with the winner - if you want to stay longer and pick up your own hotel for a few nights, we're cool with booking the return tickets home a few days later). Note, a lot of food is supplied during BlackBerry World as an attendee. This prize is not transferable.
• We have some pretty Bold people on the CrackBerry Editorial and Forums teams. If they want to do up a video, that's cool, but don't worry, they won't be allowed to win any prizes.
• If anything isn't clear or you have any other questions, please email us at [email protected].