Bid group launches video contest
CONTEST | Promote city's 2016 effort, maybe win prize
Chicago officials have added a new Olympic event: filmmaking.
The winner doesn't get a gold medal, though.
(AP)
The top prize is a free trip for two to Vancouver, site of the 2010 Winter Games.
Second prize is $5,000 worth of video equipment.
Earlier this year, Chicago 2016, the bid group vying to host the Summer Olympics, invited amateur moviemakers to submit films touting the city. On Thursday, they sweetened the pot with prizes.
The contest is designed to illustrate that the bid is more than just the dream of bid officials, said Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky.
One of the factors the International Olympic Committee considers when deciding which city is awarded the games is local enthusiasm.
The one-minute videos should "show the character of Chicago," according to the rules.
Prohibited: "nudity, swearing or bashing of any country or ethnic culture in any way."
One film currently on the Chicago2016.org site features a montage of photographs of Chicago landmarks as a jazzy tune written by Vanessa King and sung by John Talmade claims "other cities we beat hands down, none can compete with our beautiful town."
Sandusky said the bid group helped with the filming of some of the current videos but that participants wrote their own scripts.
Meanwhile, another Web site, Chicago2016.com, a skeptical forum that describes itself as providing "a balanced discussion," is soliciting "citizen articles" on the Olympics. The rules: essays must be "reasoned, generally even-handed, and correct in issues of fact."
The Chicago bid group is suing that site's owner, Stephen Frayne, 29, alleging trademark infringement.
The official bid group's film contest is open until Nov. 25.
The winner will be decided by visitors to the Chicago 2016 Web site, and one voter will win a trip for six to the United States Olympic Committee athlete training center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Details on how to enter and vote can be found at Chicago2016.org.