Can YouTube Make Western Iowa Look Cool?

Think you can make western Iowa look cool on the wildly popular and ultra-hip video sharing Web site YouTube?

There’s money and even a new TV in it if you do.

Western Iowa Advantage, an economic development organization in this area, Tuesday launches its first-ever video contest, an event that is slated to run for six weeks.

“We just saw this as a great opportunity to get the message of how great it is to live in western Iowa out to a target audience for us,” said Jim Gossett of Western Iowa advantage.

Gossett said the videos on YouTube.com, one of the more broadly recognized destinations on the Internet — and a place that has changed politics and public relations with its ability to showcase user-generated content immediately — will reach younger people and families, just what cities like Carroll need.

Specifically, the videos must be geared to life in the following counties: Adair, Audubon, Carroll, Crawford, Greene, Guthrie, Ida, and/or Sac.

The contest is void where prohibited. See Official Rules at www.westerniowaadvantage.com for details. Entries must be received by May 15.
“There is no residency requirement, so let your extended families, cousins, and old college roommates know they can enter as well,” Western Iowa Advantage says in a news release. “As long as it showcases the great life one enjoys in western Iowa, we want to see it.”

Videos will be judged on how well they portray the positive attributes of the area (40 percent), the overall appeal of the video (30 percent), and creativity/ originality (30 percent). The most important thing is to show what makes Western Iowa great.
“The more creative, the better,” Gossett said.

There are three separate age groups: high school (13-18), college (18-22), and adult (18+). There will be one grand prize winner for the best video, one first prize winner from each age group and three runner-up winners chosen from the best remaining videos. Winning videos will also be presented on the Western Iowa Advantage Web sites and in promotional events for the community. Prizes are as follows: grand prize, 42-inch, HD-TV; three first places, $500; three runner-up prizes, $250.

For more information go to Western Iowa Advantage's Web site.