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Promoting Montana, For Montana

Missoula-based business hosts competition to find short films for Montana’s Tourism Office

By Molly Priddy

With the immeasurable beauty and countless reasons to visit Montana, the state does pretty well drawing in tourists on its own. But even the best need some help, and Flathead Valley residents have the chance to help promote the Big Sky state to tourists, while also potentially picking up some prize money.

A new business in Missoula is causing state and nationwide buzz with its online video-sharing platform. Audience Awards is a Missoula-based business that provides a social media platform for videos, short films and other film-related projects.

Audience Awards hosts the competitions, and the website’s audience chooses the winners, according to CEO and founder Paige Williams, who built the company after seeing a demand for such a platform among filmmakers.

“I just saw some needs within the independent filmmaking community,” Williams said. “You’d see these short films and you’d never be able to find them again. You can put something up on YouTube, but it doesn’t mean that anyone’s going to be able to show up and find your film.”

The site has hosted a plethora of competitions already, including the L.A. Short Film Festival and a short-video contest between Montana State University Bobcat fans and University of Montana Grizzly fans.

All of the contests come with cash prizes, allowing artists to not only have a place to show their work, but also the possibility of being paid for it. Last week, the site hosted its own competition, seeking short films about love for Valentine’s Day. The most popular film will win $500.

And in an upcoming competition, Flathead Valley residents will have a chance to win part of a $40,000 prize package for one-minute films showcasing what people love about the state.

The “Real Montana” competition comes from the state Office of Tourism, and urges participants to create short films about their favorite Montana moments. There are five categories – food and beverage; artists, culture and events; Montana places; outdoor adventure; and wildlife and scenery – and each category comes with its own set of prize money.

First prize is $2,500, second place wins $1,500, and third place gets $1,000. The top two videos from each category will then move on to compete in a final round for the grand prize of $10,000.

Videos for the competition must be submitted by April 6, Williams said, giving Flathead residents plenty of time to visit their favorite places and people and film their experiences.

Voting will be available when the competition opens April 7 until April 21, then voting for the grand prize begins April 22.

Daniel Iverson, public information officer for the state tourism office, said the Audience Award platform provided a great opportunity for the state’s #MontanaMoment brand to move into video.

“We’ve been collecting photos through our Facebook and Twitter with that hashtag for a while now,” Iverson said. “This is how we’ve started collecting video.”

Keeping the tourism campaigns local and grassroots-oriented, such as the project with the state Department of Transportation to crowd-source the design for the state’s welcome signs on the roads, gives Montanans a sense of ownership, Iverson said, and it makes for inviting advertising.

“It just goes a long way to establish our credibility as promoters of Montana, because the people making it live here,” Iverson said.

The competition is also an opportunity for businesses to showcase themselves, Williams said. The Flathead has a great selection of breweries, restaurants, shops, and other ventures, she said, and each of them offers something unique.

“All of those places should have one-minute videos made about what they’re producing,” she said.

The film contest is also a way for the state to immerse itself in social media advertising, because the more people who share the videos and engage in the competition, the more the tourism office’s message will be seen.

“The Office of Tourism not only gets this content to use and its shared rights, but Montana gets a ton of social media visibility and brand engagement as the content creators crowd source for votes,” Williams said.

And the idea is catching on; Audience Awards is working on deals with five other states to start similar competitions.

“This is a great way to get your film seen and to get people to know about what you’re doing,” she said.

For more information, visit www.theaudienceawards.com/realmontana.