Good advice for anyone who’s creative.

neil-gaiman:

Neil Gaiman

1 Write.

2 Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.

3 Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.

4 Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like…

Hey, here’s a way of getting some camera stuff :)

chescaleigh:

Chescavlogs give away! (via Chescavlogs)

In honor of my new vlog channel I’m doing a give away! As soon as I hit 2k subscribers I’m going to give away a Logitech HD web camera and a Lowel Ego table top digital imaging kit! To enter, make sure you subscribe to Chescavlogs and leave me a comment telling me why you should win the camera and light kit!

Hey OVCers! If you were too busy waiting in line for the midnight showing of The Avengers (or heck, just too busy at work) to check in on our little ol’ site, let us get you caught up on the newest and best-est video contests added this week.

Here are some of the highlights this week:

Biggest cash prize: $10,500 in the Robert Half ‘Career Coaching Gone Awry’ Project, brought to you by Tongal. Use humor to share a bad job/career-advice moment (real or imagined!).

Best non-cash prize: A chance to reach your fitness goals + $2000 in the Zumba Fitness ‘Rush Challenge’ Video Contest. If you want help reaching your fitness goals, Zumba’s got your covered. Just share your aspirations and you could get everything you need to get going.

Best trip: Round trip tickets to South Korea in the Korean Cultural Center ‘2012 K-Pop’ Video Contest. K-Pop fans, bust out your best moves.

OVC’s Pick of the Week: Overall, our favorite contest this week is the ‘Your Earth, Your Dream, Your Action’ Contest, brought to you by Zooppa. Siemens invites you to think big and share your actionable ideas for a greener world. The top prize is $10,000, and runner-ups prizes aren’t too shabby either (15 videos will be awarded in all)! There is just under two weeks left for this contest, so hurry up!

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None of these video contests striking your fancy? There are TONS more contests waiting for you at OnlineVideoContests.com! Which contests will you be working on?

We’ve got a great group of videos to share with you this week!

Two OVCers are competing in the ‘Tobacco - I’m not Buying It’ Video Contest. So check out both, and make sure to comment and ‘Like’ them on YouTube!

• Jasmine shares her reasons for saying no to tobacco. CLICK HERE
• Jasper created a clever PSA. CLICK HERE

Next, we have an entry from Giovanni in the Mobile Rhino Video Contest. ‘Like’ his video on YouTube to help his chances - click here!

And Robbie Ryan just submitted a video to the OatShake Jingle Video Contest, which he is super proud of. Judges will be announcing the winners for this one any day now, but he still wants to show it off - so check out his video here.

Thanks to all our superstar OVCers for sharing their work with us this week!

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If you need help winning a video contest, let us know on the OVC “Up For Vote” page. And don’t forget to let us know when you win.

Entering video contests can be a real gamble. You put in time, and often some cash, to make your video shine - without any guarantee that you’ll win something.

But sometimes you actually do get a guarantee! Smart contest promoters want to start populating their video contest site with content ASAP, so they’ll sometimes offer entrants an early entry prize.

The early entry prize is often awarded to the first X amount of entrants (say, the first 10, 50, 100!) OR it’s awarded to the best entry(ies) received by some designated date ahead of the final entry deadline. Prizes vary from contest to contest, so make sure you read the fine print, but this can be a great advantage for entrants. There tends to be less competition if you get your video in early, so you have a higher chance of getting something back!

Ready to start earning those early entry prizes?

Get Clickin’!

It’s the last week in April, and with May just around the corner, summer’s so close we can almost taste it!

But, before we can get to backyard BBQs and warm nights (soon, please!), we’ve got to get down to one last piece of business for this week. I’m talking the best and brightest of the new crop of video contests. Without further ado…

Here are some of the highlights this week:

Biggest cash prize: $10,500 in the @SpeedStick #HANDLEIT Video Project, brought to you by Tongal. The goal of this project is to create a fresh, funny 20-second video based on Speed Stick’s favorite #HANDLEIT tweet. The final videos will get voiceover input from Community’s Danny Pudi!

Best non-cash prize: A $500 Amazon Gift Card in the 23andMe SUPER FAN Video Contest. If you geek out on DNA and genetics, this is a cool contest. Bonus: the first 100 entries get a T-shirt.

Best trip: A $30,000 trip for 4 to New Zealand in the New Zealand ‘Stories Beat Stuff’ Video Contest. Two trips are up for grabs - just let them know what possession you’d be willing to give up for the trip of a lifetime.

OVC’s Pick of the Week: Overall, our favorite contest this week is the ‘Get Caught Listening’ 2012 Video Contest. This is the second year of this contest, so they’ve got a proven track record (An OVCer took home the win last year!). Grand Prize is a cool $5k, with some solid runner’s up prizes as well.

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None of these video contests striking your fancy? There are TONS more contests waiting for you at OnlineVideoContests.com! Which contests will you be working on?

Just a few more days left for you to enter the OVC + Digiarty Software ‘Video Converter’ Giveaway. Don’t miss out on your chance to win one of 40 copies of video converter software!

Click for all the details.

The ‘Up For Vote’ Round-Up is always one of the highlights of our week. Why? Because we get to take a few minutes to watch all the awesome, creative, inspired videos that our community has been making!

AND, we get to help them on their way by giving out some votes as well. Ready to see what’s going down this week? Here we go!

First up, we’ve got Birdo Francisco Fuentes’ entry to the Ken Block x Hot Wheels Fan Video Contest. There’s only ONE day left to vote - and his entry is titled “Mini Gymkhana”.

Next, Jasmine is singing her heart out in the Mary Mary Singing Video Contest. Click to vote for her here!

Joseph S made a cool lo-fi music video for Kap Bambino. Take a gander here.

And last, but not least, we have Robbie R’s entry to the Kikkomania 2012 Video Contest. Vote for his video, titled “Kikkoman Party”.

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If you need help winning a video contest, let us know on the OVC “Up For Vote” page. And don’t forget to let us know when you win.

Are you interested in environmental matters? Do you do your part to save the earth’s natural resources? You sound like someone who might really dig sustainability!

Being ‘green’, supporting ‘sustainability’ and doing your part to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ are all seen as a cool thing to do these days, and a lot of companies want to be a part of that movement.

Check out the ‘Sustainability’ tag on OVC to see contests that can earn you some green for being ‘green’!

Get Clickin’!

We stop by Indy Mogul this week! See Griffin’s tips for finding and winning video contests.

griffinity:

Thank you, Marissa from OnlineVideoContests, for joining me on Indy News today, as I give away all my video contest secrets!