Lonely Planet community blog

To commemorate the relesase of  Lonely Planet’s new pictorial, The USA Book: A Journey Through America, we’ve launched a travel video contest on YouTube to get a chance to experience the US through your eyes.

Whether it’s the world’s the best place to watch the sunset, where to eat barbecue in your home town, or if you simply want to share a recent American travel experience, Lonely Planet wants to see it.

The competition is divided into the following 5 categories:

• No Place Like Home: Tell us about your neighborhood, hometown, favorite spot
• The Great Outdoors: Show us where you enjoy nature
• Encounters: Showcase the great people you have encountered on your journeys
• Cities: Top cosmopolitan destinations
• Best Kept Secrets: Your favorite unknown travel spots

Prizes will be awarded by category, and an overall grand prize that includes a trip to San Francisco and an oppotunity to shoot a travel video for Lonely Planet will go to the best of the best.

To enter the competition, an original new video must be submitted at www.youtube.com/lonelyplanet by October 25, 2009.  The maximum length of an entry into a category cannot be greater than 3 minutes and only one entry per person per category is permitted; the competition is only open to US residents. 5 finalists will be selected by an expert panel including Lonely Planet US Travel Editor Robert Reid; voting for the Grand Prize winner will be opened up to the community on YouTube. For the full details and official rules click here.

All right American travel buffs, let’s have a look at your USA!

[Photo: Golden Gate Bridge by Anirudh Koul]

Hide 3 comments

1. September 1, 2009 dantraveling Report this comment

   We entered yay! Great contest however should we ever find ourselves in San Francisco, being from the south, I wonder if we will have to pack along our own Ham Biscuits and sweet tea?

   Heres ours
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hIrC6ic0Fo

2. September 3, 2009 Andy Murdock Report this comment

   Thanks for entering! If you do find yourself in San Francisco, bring the sweet tea and ham biscuits, and I’ll trade you for some sourdough bread and a Dungeness crab

3. October 26, 2009 urintown Report this comment

   Hi,
   This is probably the wrong place to direct my concern but it’s worth a shot. Would you be able to point me in the right direction or possibly give me the email of whomever runs the youtube channel?

   I’ve tried to enter several times to the “My Journey” contest but for some reason my entry has still not been posted.

   About a month ago I entered a video under the category Encounters entitled “Taste of Philly.” I actually had to make a slight change to some of the music. I deleted my original entry and uploaded the new one to take its place.

   As of now my old deleted version is the only one showing up. With only hours left in the competition, I just want to make sure I’m given the chance to enter my correct video. I’ve requested to enter 2 videos entitled “Reading Terminal Market” and “Taste of Philly.” Their icon is a boy playing piano against a green backdrop. If you could use either of these to replace my old one that would be great!

   Thanks!
   Andrew (urintown) <username on youtube