[Susan]

I am thrilled to announce that IKEA has asked yours truly to be a guest judge for their current Small Business, Big Dreams video contest, powered by Shycast.com!

As an IKEA Small Business Network member, you are invited to submit a short video showcasing storefronts along your small town's Main Street. But hurry, the deadline is July 26th! The prize is an incredible $50,000 in professional design and furnishings to be split among (up to) 10 storefronts in your small business community.

Many of you recall that IKEAFANs won over $5500 in IKEA's Breaking the Rules Bedmaking Contest, and the Grand Prize winner was our very own JUMPCUTUS. This time, the stakes are higher and IKEAFANS is judging! How can you lose?



Check IKEA | BUSINESS | MAINSTREET for all the rules and entry guidelines and then come back here to let your opinions on the entries be known! IKEAFANS have a say!

Vote for your favorite in the Small Business, Big Dreams Contest Poll - Coming Soon!

[drewp2]

Dear fellow ikeafans,

Drew from Shycast here. I just want to encourage you to take a look at this contest. There is $50,000+ on the line! It doesn't take much to enter, and if you get involved and get your community to vote you could easily find yourself - and your business - in a winning slot.

IKEA launched this contest to support local communities like the ones many of us live in. All it takes is a camera and a little creativity...and you could see your community get a ton of attention, a major facelift, and a real shot in the arm from a great company that really cares. So please take a moment and check it out.

Yours truly,
drewp2

[SherryKaraoke]

I'm happy you are getting to judge among the ten finalists, but I just wanted to say my three favorites did not make it. Bay St; Louis, Mississippi, which I loved because it was so dramatic and showed so much heart; Paducah, Texas, because they really needed the prize; and Petersburg, Alaska, because living on an island (with no bridge!) they really do have to rely on each other for everything. Thanks for the opportunity to applaud these three small towns which I believe should have been in the top ten.

[Susan]

I'm happy to see such passion about the towns who entered the contest!

As I'm sure you're aware, the official judges have specific criteria on which they must rate each and every entry. In this case, the criteria were how creatively and effectively they marketed the businesses involved in the entry (40%), how creatively and effectively they portrayed their community vision for their small businesses (40%) and finally - overall creativity (20%). Each of the entries that are in the top 10 are there because they met the criteria above and exceeded their competition in how well they did so.

Please utilize that enthusiasm to evaluate all of the current competitors and vote for your favorite! We have a thread and poll set up here: Vote for your favorite! to make your opinion known. Hope to see you posting there!

Susan