Crazy Good Videos

We just celebrated the winning videos for the State Library's "Tell Us Your Story" contest here in NJ and what an event it was!

A little background... we've spent the past year working with librarians to help them create strategic stories to use for advocacy. We used the key messages outlined in the OCLC report and conducted lots of workshops throughout the year. As the stories were collected we used them to create media releases, commercials, PSAs, promotional boards and booklets shared with elected officials. One part of the campaign was a contest encouraging libraries to create a digital story depicting how their libraries are transforming the lives of their customers. Read details of the campaign and prizes here.

We went all out for the award ceremony with live singers, great awards and lot's of stories. But what were most impressed with were the stories by our libraries. The amazing judges for the contest were Kathy Dempsey, Susan Conlon, Amy Kearns,  Erik Boekesteijn and myself. Erik even filmed a special video congratulating the winners. Hat's off  to the following libraries  for their outstanding participation in the competition:

1st Place - Cape May County Library for their video “Get Your Game On at your Library”

2nd Place - West Deptford Public Library for their video “Hector Zapian”

3rd Place –Cranbury Public Library for their video “Finding Love at the Library”

3rd Place - Ocean County Library for their video “Ocean County Library’s Sparks BFF”

3rd Place - South Orange Public Library for their video “South Orange Photo Story”

Honorable Mention – Mount Laurel Library for their video “Bret’s Story”

Honorable Mention - West Orange Library for their video “Bright Ideas.”