Bicycle Travel Video Contest Winners Announced

March 28, 2013

You might recall last September we announced here on the blog that, in collaboration with Blanche van der Meer and her WorldCycle Videos group on Vimeo, we were launching our first-ever Bicycle Travel Video Contest "to celebrate the booming trend in bike touring and travel documentaries." We accepted submissions through the end of February, and did we ever get some good ones!

Thanks to our wonderful panel of volunteer judges, the results are in ... and the winners are:

Best Long Distance Tour Video

Northern Europe by Bike, by Stefan Böhm of Germany

Only two and a half minutes long, it's a powerful piece of work. According to one of our judges, it is a "creative, entertaining video that demonstrates you don’t need fancy graphics, effects, or a soundtrack to tell a good story. Unlike many other videos that were submitted, he included the locations, which we liked. He documents the good, the bad, and the ugly of bicycle touring, while including the bizarre and noteworthy encounters he experienced along his journey. Shooting and editing were great too."

Best Bike Overnight Video

Use Your Weekend -- Bicycle Mini Adventure, by Sam Smith of New York City

Inspired by the work of one of our judges, Alastair Humphries, Sam ventures by bike into the Catskill Mountains for the first time, and on a cold winter weekend to boot. This video nicely illustrates that even the shortest of bike tours can be long on adventure.

Best Portrait of a Traveling Cyclist

Mama Like, by Brittany App of San Luis Obispo, California

It's an upbeat, humorous video focusing on Erin Inglish's preparation for her Earth*Bike*Banjo tour down the California coast. (One judge's take: "Fun, and funny!")

All videos were also considered for the Bike Travel Spirit Award, the video that, according to the judges, best captured the spirit of bike travel and touring. Once again, Northern Europe by Bike took the honors. Coming in a close second and third, respectively, were Ride to Rio, from Dom Smith, and Cycling Central Asia, by Mary Thompson and Peter Root, aka twoonfourwheels.

Tragically, Mary and Peter were killed in a road accident in Thailand in February. But their spirit lives on; consider these words from one of our judges: "For me, the poignancy of this film comes from the context of the filmmakers' fate. They made this video with care and passion in an attempt to communicate their love for this new way of life on the road. Many people reach the end of their lives having never picked up the reins. This is a heart-wrenching but ultimately empowering tale."

To determine the winners, the judges ranked each video in five categories. There are no divisions or awards for "winning" a category, but the top votes recipients should be mentioned all the same. Here they are:

• #1 Originality: Cowboys Amateurs
• #1 Story (tie): Northern Europe by Bike and The Cycle Bug
• #1 Technical Excellence: The Ride to Rio
• #1 Overall Impact: Northern Europe by Bike
• #1 Artistic Merit: Cycling Central Asia

Finally, all videos were eligible for the People's Choice Award, presented to the video with the most "likes" on Vimeo. That award goes to Tour de Sustainability: The Training Weekend by Canadians Anya Barkan and Maria Markov.

The Winners in the three submission categories will receive a two-year Adventure Cycling Association membership and a $100 gift certificate to the Cyclosource store. Winners will also be featured in the 4th Annual Ciclismo Classico Bike Travel Film Festival in Arlington, Massachusetts, on May 21.

Start honing your shooting and editing skills, the competition is bound to be even keener next year!

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This week's NEWS, NETWORKING, AND NEW MEDIA column was written by Media Specialist Mac McCoy, one of the video contest's volunteer judges and editor of BikeOvernights.org.