StoryTubes - the 2-minute or less favorite books video contest which attracted over 150,000 page views in 2008 - is firming up plans for 2009.
Here is the epilogue for 2008 - Readers were the primary winners as over 160 new book recommendations by kids gobbled up megabytes on the YouTube servers. Thousands more people were urged to watch and cast votes for videos as the contest moved into the voting phase. One teacher described the scene in her hometown as..."people were stopping in grocery stores to ask each other if they had voted that day." During May, the StoryTubes web site averaged 1,037 pages per day and 1,301 hits per hour. The StoryTubes web site pages were viewed over 150,000 times during the contest. In addition, the contest has been featured in many news articles and a Google search for "StoryTubes" returns over 2,800 online site mentions. Please watch the short promo to learn more about the 2008 contest.
The new and improved 2009 contest that will feature -
- Opportunities for other entities to become involved as partner libraries or videotaping sites
- Additional categories for groups and older contestants
- TeacherTube will be available as a video host (so entities that block YouTube will have options)
- More prizes that include judges' choice awards to complement the voting mania
The expected timeline for StoryTubes 2009 will be -
- September 2008 - firm up partners and videotaping sites, early publicity
- Early January 2009 - entries begin to be accepted
- March - April 2009 - contest judging, voting and awards
To watch the 2008 videos, please visit http://storytubes.info/ . There is much more information about the contest at http://storytubes.info/faq.pdf.
To get your reading energy streaming, get involved in StoryTubes.
For more information, please contact Faith Brautigam for partner library information, Betsy O'Connell for technical questions and Denise Raleigh for filming, marketing and sponsorship information.
Gail Borden Public Library
Director of Marketing, Development and Communications
847-429-5981
