Have Fun, Help Us Advertise Camp, and Win Cash!
We are glad to announce the second Shehaqua Video Contest with exciting cash prizes! Why are we doing another contest? We believe that videos are a great way to spread the word about Shehaqua Family Camp. We will choose the contest winners by popular vote online on our Facebook page, which is a good way to draw many people’s attention to our website and our programs. So please participate in the contest and help us create a big buzz!
Create a Video as a Family Fun Activity
We offer two categories this year, one for families and one for individuals. We hope that many families will take this opportunity to work on a fun video and create a memorable experience at the same time.
If you have young kids in your family, record them talking about their Shehaqua memories, and your video is almost done. This will be fun, and in a few years it will be a precious family snapshot.
All videos must be submitted by January 31, 2012.
Theme of the Videos
To participate in either category (family or individual) choose one of these three topics:
- What I Like About Shehaqua Family Camp
- Shehaqua Family Camp in 2025
- 5 Reasons Why YOU Should Go to Shehaqua Family Camp
These are suggested topics, but we accept other ideas as well. What we are looking for is an original video advertising Shehaqua Family Camp that will excite viewers and get them to come to camp in summer.
Please read the rules for more details. Come back to this page (or our Facebook page) often to check for updates. And then let your creativity kick in. Here are some of the things you could do in your video: A rap song, Western theme, ballet, silent motion, clay animation, TV news show, pantomime, musical, interviews, magic tricks, stop motion hand drawing, fashion show, etc.
Prizes, and Choosing the Winners
The winners of each category will get a check of $100. The second and third place winners in each category will get a check of $50 each. All videos will be posted on our Facebook page in February. There will be a 2-week period for people to vote for their favorite video. The video that gets the most “Likes” wins. (Yes, it’s okay to mobilize all your relatives and friends to vote for your video.)
For people without a Facebook account: If you are on our mailing list we will send you an email and provide a way for you to vote, as well.
New This Year
If you have an idea for a video and need someone with a camera to shoot it, you can request a 30-minute video recording session at Camp Innabah. We will videotape your act and give you the raw footage for editing and finishing the video. Please let us know BEFORE the start of the Winter Retreat at Camp Innabah if you are interested.
Upon request we will give or mail you a DVD with 10 minutes of general video footage from Shehaqua Family Camp which you can use as part of your own video creation.
Resources and Tips
You don’t really need a video camera to create a video. You can also create movies at sites like Animoto (as did last year’s winner Richard Ching). At www.animoto.com you can upload photographs and the site's program arranges them in a dynamic way, complete with text and music.
Another site is www.xtranormal.com which allows you to type in some text and choose animated characters that will act out your script.
Or you can create a slide show in iMovie on a Mac and export it as a movie, or use Windows Movie Maker on a PC to do the same.
Check out the Vimeo Music Store at http://vimeo.com/musicstore for music for your video. Some songs come with a price (about $2) but many are in the Creative Commons, and you can download and use them for free in your videos.
Check out www.jamendo.com/en/creativecommons for more free music downloads. A Google search for “Creative Commons music downloads” will lead to additional sources.
If you don’t already have a video editing software on your computer, check out these links (provided by Arthur Bonini):
Windows movie Maker: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/get-movie-maker
Pinnacle Videospin: http://videospin.en.softonic.com/
Avidemux: http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/download.html
Wax: http://www.debugmode.com/wax/download.htm
Make sure to check out this video for a sample of a video created without a video camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Eii9eHV_j8
If you would like to see what kind of clips we can give you to create your video, please check here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQVGM2svouM
Shehaqua 2012 Video Contest Rules
The video must be between 30 and 90 seconds long.
The word "Shehaqua Family Camp" has to appear in the video, either in spoken or written form.
The video should make viewers want to participate in Shehaqua Family Camp.
There are two contest categories: Family and Individual. It’s okay for a person to submit an individual video and also be part of a family video.
- Individual video: Only one video submission per person. You can get the help of others to work on your video. If you win a prize, it will be up to you to share it with the people who helped you. If you work as a group you can submit several videos but each submission has to be made by a different person.
- Family video: For a video to qualify as a family video, at least two members of the family have to be involved in the production. If the members are not visible in the movie, please let us know who did what. Only one video can be submitted per family.
All videos must be submitted to us by 11:59 pm on January 31, 2012. We will preview all submissions on February 1. Please do not post your video link on our Facebook page until after February 3. We will delete any post with a contest video link posted before that date. Contest voting will start on February 3 and last until midnight of February 19.
If you upload your video to a hosting site like YouTube or Vimeo, then send us a link to the video. Please keep the video unlisted until the voting starts. After we had a chance to review your video, please post the link on our Fabebook page between February 3 and February 5.
You can also send or email the video to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and we will upload it to our Shehaqua Family Youtube Channel and send you the link.
Your video will be made public and might be used to advertise Shehaqua Family Camp, even if it is not the winner.
The first place winner in each of the two categories will get a check of $100. The second and third place winners in each category will get a check of $50 each. The fourth and fifth place winners will get a free Shehaqua T-Shirt.
The video must be legal for us to use without paying for license fees. The video submission cannot contain any illegal material. Any video containing material that was illegally obtained or violates copyright law cannot be accepted.
Shehaqua Family Camp and its parent Pocono Family Ministries have the final decision on whether a submission follows the rules.