Do you have video of an Illinois Vacation you've taken this summer (any time after April 16, 2007), or are you planning on taking a vacation to the "Prairie State" by August 31st of this year? If so, show your stuff with a video of your time in the state. The video must feature an Illinois attraction, whilst demonstrating your video prowess.

The Illinois Bureau of Tourism is sponsoring a skill contest until August 31, 2007 offering four Grand Prizes of a $2,500 Shell Gas Card, each one representing a year's worth of free gas (they actually used a specific formula from a survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to come up with that amount... though it was done two years ago, so these figures may no longer quite apply). This contest is void in AK, AZ, CT, HI, MD, ND, NJ, VA, VT, and where prohibited by law. This is an amateur contest and is not open to those who have been paid for their artwork, videos, or written work in the past year. There is a limit of one entry per person, per household.

Contestants must supply proof of a two-night stay at any Illinois motel or hotel along with their entry, as well as a video release form and model release forms for any recognizable individuals that are in the video.

Videos must be original work with the contestant holding all rights, and must not have been previously published or entered in any other competitions. Entrants must submit full name and address with the video. Required length is at a minimum of thirty seconds, with a maximum of three minutes. Formats allowed are MPEG, AVI, and MOV, with a maximum file size of 20 MB.

Entries can be fully themed ("Family Fun", "Sports", "Road Trip", etc.), in documentary form, or in the creative venue of the entrant's choice, as long as it complies with the contest rules (no profanity, etc.) Some things that one might also choose to feature in the video could include:

State Flower: Native violet

State Tree: White oak

State Bird: Cardinal

State Mineral: Fluorite

State Animal: White-tailed deer

State Insect: Monarch butterfly

State Fish: Bluegill

State Motto: "State sovereignty, national union"

State Song: "Illinois"

Videos will be judged on the following criteria:

Creativity - 25%

Originality -25%

Ability to Inspire and Inform Others about Illinois as a travel destination -25%

Depicting the Magnificence of Illinois - 25%

The four highest scoring videos will win the contest. In the event of a tie, the entry with the highest score in "Depicting the Magnificence of Illinois" will win.

Enter by mail, or online HERE

"Olay Body" is sponsoring a contest open to female residents of the fifty United States, and the District of Columbia, who are twenty-one years of age or older. They are looking for a video, two minutes in length or less, telling them "Who is your shining light? Is it your best friend or someone you have a special friendship with?" They then ask you to "Describe why and how she lights up your life". The light may be a relative or friend.

Grand Prize winner walks away with a trip to New York City, accompanied by the subject of her video. Round-trip airfare and ground transportation are included, along with a spa visit and a $1,000 shopping spree for the winner! (Apparently, not for the video star... maybe she'll have to wait in the hotel for a while... oh, but, wait... it will be awarded in the form of a check! Nevermind, maybe she'll never have to know about it). Both ladies will also receive a makeover and professional photo shoot with a picture package to be soley determined by the sponsor. Total prize package is valued at approximately $5,350.

Ten first prizes are also to be awarded of an Olay gift basket and a $150 spa certificate. Total first prize package is valued at $165.

To enter, submit an unpublished, original video creation that has not previously won any prizes or awards, with the entrant holding all rights. Participants in the video may include ONLY the video originator and/or the friend/subject of the video. Submissions may be done in either color or black and white using QuickTime or Windows Media formats ONLY, and be 2MB or smaller. Anything seen or heard in the video (music, props, etc.) must be the entrant's original creation. Professional or student videos will not be accepted.

Preliminary judging will be done to determine the top forty videos based upon the following criteria:

Originality & Creativity of video — 35%

Appropriateness of video to theme — 35%

Sincerity of video — 15%

Exuberance of entrant as demonstrated on the video — 15%

The submission with the highest score in Originality & Creativity will win entry into the top forty in the event of a tie.

Once the top forty are chosen, a panel of judges will then choose one Grand Prize Winner and ten first place winners from the group. Judging is based on the same criteria as the first round, with tiebreaking also done in the same manner.

Entries must be recieved by 5:00 pm Eastern time on August 31, 2007. One entry per person, certain restrictions apply, so be sure to read the Official Rules.

Enter HERE.

Do you have a level of expertise in some area of life that you would like to share with others? Do you have an urge to write about your experience, yet don't know how to get started? Then these contests could be for you.

Associated Content, "The People's Media Company", presently has several contests for registered content producers. Registration is quick and simple, and once registered, you can participate in one or all of them.

First off is the "People's Media Awards". These awards are offered annually, and paid out a total of $10,000 cash last year in categories such as "Editors Pick for Best Content of the Year" ($1,250), "Editor's Pick for Best CP of the Year ($1,250), "Most Prolific Content Producer" ($500), and more. These prizes are open to any contributing member offering quality content.

Next are the "Content Challenges". These change monthly and offer prizes upwards of $125. Members can participate in creating challenges, as well, by offering ideas in the AC forum. Content Challenges are announced via the member's personal message centers, and those who wish to participate can then write an article according to the challenge criteria. Some of the previous challenges have included "Valentine's Day Challenge" and "Black History in Your City".

Finally is the "AC Sticker Placement Contest". Members are able to request AC stickers, which are then sent by postal mail. Once the stickers are received, place your sticker in a creative venue with high visibility and take a picture of it. Placement must offer an effective way of promoting AC and must show an ability to attract attention, so, again, be creative. Entries must be in .jpg or.gif format and are to include your name and a brief explanation of the placement of the sticker. This is a monthly contest with a $25 award.

Various other contests are also available throughout the year, so many opportunities to win are available. Participation is easy... After registering, just log in and go to the "My Account" tab, then click on "Ways to Win" for all the details.

Should you choose not to participate in the contests and only wish to register as a content producer, Associated Content also offers the opportunity to receive payment and/or bonuses for your work, so if you are interested in finding a venue to share your work, you might like to investigate the site anyways.

Associated Content

The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary We Fest is coming to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and will be running August 2-4 this year. The country music festival is held annually at the Soo Pass Ranch, and draws a fun-loving crowd from around the country with thousands taking up temporary residency for the weekend. Some of the artists this year will include Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Toby Keith, and more.

This year, Miller Lite and Froggy 99.9 are sponsoring a campsite contest for participating weekend residents, with the theme of "Miller Time in the Wild, Wild West". Campers are offered the opportunity to win prizes based on decorating their campsites according to three categories:

Best use of the wild, wild, west theme,

Best use of the 25th Anniversary theme,

and a special Miller Lite World Beer Cup award for the site that displays the Miller logo best.

Contestants must be sure to inform their campground manager that they are participating in the contest, so that judges will be sure to stop by their site. Preliminary judging will be done on Friday, between 10am and 12 noon. Contestants are not required to be at the site, however, according to the official rules, final judging will be based on creativity and bribery, so being there to woo the judges may help just a little bit!

Prizes for the two themed sites are as follows:

2 vehicle passes for 2008 in the winners current campground

8 per person camping passes for 2008

8 general admission tickets for 2008

8 25^th Anniversary Pins

8 25th Anniversary chairs

8 25^th Anniversary T-shirts

2 tents

8 sleeping Bags

2 coolers

2 flashlights

Prizes for the World Beer Cup award are:

• 2 vehicle passes in the winners current campground for 2008
• 8 per person camping passes for 2008
• 8 general admission tickets for 2008
• 8 25^th Anniversary Pins
• 8 25th Anniversary chairs
• 8 25^th Anniversary T-shirts
• 2 tents
• 2 coolers
• 8 sleeping bags
• 8 Miller chairs
• 2 fire rings

Award ceremonies will be filmed Saturday morning between 10 am and 12 noon to be broadcast on Jumbotron Saturday afternoon.

Find out more about the contest HERE.

Family Dollar "Free For All" Sweepstakes & Offer

Family Dollar Store is sponsoring a sweepstakes with 20 Grand Prizes of $100 in the form of a check. This sweepstakes offers two forms of entry, one by using the official entry form, available at Family Dollar Stores,

which can be paired with a gift certificate offer when purchasing certain brands, and one with no purchase necessary for sweepstakes entry only.

When using the official entry form, each household is also offered the opportunity to receive a five dollar

Family Dollar Store gift certificate. In order to enter the sweepstakes AND receive the gift certificate, along with the official entry form one must send a cash register receipt from Family Dollar Store dated between June 1, 2007 and June 30, 2007, with the name and price circled from one of the following brands: Tide, Dawn, Charmin, Luvs, Pringles, Always, Gain, Febreze, Bounty, and Tampax. There is a limit of one gift certificate per household, and one sweepstakes entry per outer envelope.

In order to enter the sweepstakes without the official entry form, on a plain piece of 3x5 paper, hand print your name, street address (no p.o. boxes), city, state, zip code, date of birth (mm/dd/yyyy) plus (optional) daytime and evening phone numbers. Mail in a stamped envelope no larger than a #10 to:

Family Dollar "Free For All" Sweepstakes

P.O. Box 5014

Ellenton, FL 34222-5000

Limit one entry per envelope. All entries must be received by July 16, 2007.

Dollar General "Win a Fast Million"

This sweepstakes offers one Grand Prize of an all-expense-paid trip for two to the Ford 300 & 400 Championship Weekend in Miami, Florida, $10,000 cash in the form of a check, and the opportunity to win $1,000,000 in the form of a twenty-year annuity paid at $50,000 a year. The Grand Prize winner receives the million dollar award "if the No. 77 Dollar General Stores Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS participates in and is declared the official winner of the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Ford 300 Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway completed on November 17, 2007", according to the official rules. If the number 77 car does not win the race, the million dollar portion of the prize will not be awarded.

Ten first prizes of a $500 Dollar General Gift Card are being awarded, with fifty second place prizes of a $100 Dollar General Gift Card, and 100 third place prize winners receiving an autographed cap and t-shirt fan pack valued at $50.

To enter this sweepstakes, you can mail the official entry form available from Dollar General Stores, or you can use the alternate mail-in entry as stated in the Official Rules, or you can enter online HERE.

Entrants must be 21 years of age or older, and residents of the fifty United States or Washington D.C. One online entry per person and email address per day. Sweepstakes ends October 13, 2007.

Miller Lite is offering an interactive sweepstakes that allows you to "build" your ultimate summer Jeep, then gives you a chance to win it! You will also be offered the opportunity to fill out a Miller Lite survey, though there is no obligation to. Entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older to enter the site, one entry per person/email address per day. Sweepstakes ends July 31, 2007.

Your sweepstakes host, Mad Mike, patiently, and sometimes not-so-patiently, walks you through the entry process, and offers comments and input, along with showing you pictures of the jeep you are building throughout the process. It is actually quite an entertaining sweepstakes to enter, though it may not work well with slower internet connections.

To start off, you will be asked to choose your paint style. The choices include: micro blue, flame thrower, urban legend. Along with this you choose your interior. Interior choices are: speed style, lounge lizard, and casual comfort. Once you make your choice, you can hit the "show me" button, and Mike "draws" you a realistic-looking picture of it. Then you are offered the option to keep it, or to trash it and choose a different style. Taking too long to make any one of your choices will bring on some infernal ribbing from Mike.

The next choice is rims and tires. Available selections are: twist-off, lollipop, liquid gold, dirt flirt, nite lite, and 360 degrees. Upon making your final choice in this area, it's on to thesound system. You may choose "party starter", "drive-in", "center stage", or "after hours".

The final choice is the "blow it out" section. This area allows you to customize the final prize package. There are four different categories to choose from, and you are allowed to pick five prizes from within your chosen category to go along with your Jeep.

The first category is: "I'm a beach bum". Prize choices for this category are: a surfboard, slide, hammock, tiki torches, volleyball net, ice cream station, baloon launcher, lawn chairs, beach awning, and a shower.

The "I kick it by the campfire" category offers the following options: a grill, tent, kayaks, awning, picnic table, torches, hammock telescope, firepit, and satellite.

In the"sports, sports, and more sports" category you will find: a volleyball net, basketball hoop, goal posts, practice nets, pop-a-shot, massage chairs, scoreboard, P.A. system, floodlights, and a bicycle rack.

The final category of "block party, anyone?" allows the options of: turntables, buffet table, misters, basketball hoop, disco ball, dance floor, dance lights, dance video game, big screen, and a popcorn machine.

Upon making your final choices, hit the "win it" button to move forward and decide whether you want to register the jeep and prize package you've created in order to receive a chance to win it, or if you would prefer to share it with others, or design another one. You may design one Jeep package per day for your chance to win it, more if you'd just like something to play with. Should you choose to register your design, you will be sent an email with the link so you can go back and look at the your chosen package for that day.

You can enter this sweepstakes HERE

The "Heroes" TV series is based on the idea that there are everyday people in the world that posses super-human qualities, and focuses upon the lives of some of these people. This year, the show was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards. The show was nominated for "Best Television Series - Drama", and Actor Masi Kosa (who plays Dilbert Hiro, a hero with the ability to bend the time-space continuum) was nominated for " Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television".

The NBC show "Heroes" (airing Mondays at 8pm central time) has inspired a limited-edition print, two copies of which are being offered as Grand Prizes in "The Heroes Sweepstakes", sponsored by Entertainment Weekly. The prints, designed by Tim Sale and James Dimmock, are signed by some of the members of the cast, and are (currently) valued at $1,500 each.

Twenty first place prizes are also to be awarded, with each first place winner receiving a "Heroes" 9th Wonders comic art t-shirt, a "Heroes" brushed logo cap, and a "Vote Petrelli" coffee mug.

Daily online entry is allowed for this sweepstakes, with additional entry options available. See the official rules for alternate entry guidelines, with entry "as often as you wish". (While you're there, you may wish to scroll down and check the odds of winning.)

Enter HERE

Heroes - Season 1