The Corolla Dream Destinations Contest
Courtesy our noble sponsor -- the automobile folk at Toyota and their fine conveyance known to scholars as the Corolla -- we've been empowered to offer our readers a most excellent contest. In 250 words or less, sum up your ideal urban getaway, specifically a major city you've been wanting to see, plus a hotel where you've always wanted to stay in that city, and a strange, foreign creature you've always wanted to eat in that city, or most anything else to do, see, eat, or speak with in the city trip of your dreams. We'll post the good ones on Gridskipper, and readers will choose their favorites. Then a panel of celebrity judges will select a winner. And that grand prize winner will pack up and catch a flight to live out their dream trip in the city of their choice, all expenses paid. Well, most expenses paid! Read on to see how it works.
Describe your dream city trip in 250 words or less. Choose any big city worldwide that you want to visit for a long weekend trip. Pick out a dream hotel to stay, a fab restaurant or two, plus shops, sights, shows, neighborhoods, whatever. Remember: Be specific! Tell us exactly where you want to go and what you want to do. Include links to relevant places and spaces if you want. Make it sound great, fun, singular, and irresistible. Don't just tell us you want to fly to Paris and drink wine -- say what neighborhood you'll visit, what cafe you'll stop at for a table, and what kind of wine you'll order with dinner. Think along the lines of a four- or five-day trip worth about $5,000. Send your dream city trip narrative to contest@gridskipper.com. In your email, include your legal name, mailing address, birth date, and daytime and nighttime phone numbers. Submit as often as you like, but be sure to email your entries before noon on April 15, when the submission period ends.
We'll post your dream city trip on Gridskipper. We'll be a little selective, of course -- for example, if your description is crap or makes no sense or is, worst of all, boring, then we won't post it. But if it's at least reasonably decent, we'll post it unedited.
Readers vote on the best dream city trips. From April 15 through the 25th, we'll post as many worthy dream city trips as you send in. Each dream city trip will be assigned a specific commenter ID. Clicking on that commenter ID will take you to that post's unique commenter page. By "friending" that post's author, you'll be voting for the entry. You can "friend" as many entries as you like, throwing your support to multiple candidates if you so choose. At the end of the submission period, the five posts with the most "friends" advance to the final round.
But what if I don't have a Gridskipper commenter ID? No problem. We'll send ten commenter access invitations to anyone who submits a dream city entry that we publish. That should get you started -- and you'll have several invites left over so that "real" friends and colleagues can log in to help you out. Don't want to submit and just want to vote? Email us, and we'll send you a comment access invitation of your very own.
Judges pick the grand prize winner. After April 25, our panel of celebrity judges (more about them later) will review the five most popular submissions and choose the winner of the grand prize -- airfare for two to your dream city, four nights of hotel accommodation, and $500 spending money. Not to be left out, the four other finalists each receive a $100 gift certificate for Travelocity's Last Minute Packages.
And that's the deal. See the official contest rules for more details, and visit with our panel of celebrity judges to work on angling your submission to please 'em. All submissions and contest-related posts can be read here. Submit your entry now to contest@gridskipper.com.
