Contests: A video for Vegas, a smile for Hawaii

How does a free trip to Las Vegas or Hawaii sound? All you’ve got to do is get a little creative (and likely, a lot lucky). Below are details on two current contests sponsored by tourism entities, but note that for the first one — for Vegas — you’ve got to hurry: the deadline for a video submission is March 16.

Vegas-bound

For this contest sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, upload a video of 60 seconds or less to YouTube, explaining to the panel of “Las Vegas experts” why you deserve a trip to Las Vegas. Three finalists will be chosen, and then the masses (YouTube viewers) will determine the winner.

Have a look at some of the competition on the contest’s YouTube page. You can come up with something better, right?

Prize: The winner and his or her guest will receive round-trip airfare for two to Las Vegas, two nights in a hotel, dinner for two and show tickets for two; exact venues are to be determined by the contest sponsor.

Deadline: March 16, 2009

A thousand reasons to smile

For the Hawaii Convention & Visitors Bureau’s “A Thousand Reasons to Smile” contest, submit a smiley mug of yours online (your face shot may be chosen to appear on the site’s homepage).

Next, you’ll be asked to choose from among 45 Hawaii images one that gets you grinning. Is it the Kalaupapa Trail in Molokai, or the Napali Coast on Kauai, or a surfer catching a wave in Waikiki? These are a few of the captioned options (i.e., for the latter, “Riding your first wave in warm water”). You can stick with the default descriptive, or write your own caption for your photo pick.

Prize: The grand prize, valued at over $5,000, consists of 80,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles; a four-night stay at the Sheraton Maui; and a helicopter tour for two on Maui. The winner will be selected by HCVB on “a number of criteria, including but not limited to the uniqueness and creativity of the photograph and the text submission.”

If “unique” and “creative” are characteristics they seek, I’m guessing you’d do well to come up with your own stunning caption rather than going with the default. That’s just a guess.

Deadline: You can enter as many times as you’d like until April 30, 2009.

- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Image]

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Friday, March 13, 2009 at 5:55 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under Contest & Sweepstakes, Hawaii, Islands & Beaches, Las Vegas, Last Minute, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.