Nick Hilton of Hometown Princeton
On behalf of all of the 49 member companies of Hometown Princeton, I would like to congratulate Joia Speciale, whose wonderful video, “Can’t Get That At The Mall,” won the “Why I Shop Local” video contest recently sponsored by our organization.
Votes from online viewers as well as our panel of independent judges favored Joia’s video, which features two adorable children enjoying some of the unique things that Hometown Princeton businesses have to offer and remarking to each other over and over again, “You can’t get that at the mall.”
Among the 15 finalists were several contenders for the top spot, all of which conveyed the Hometown Princeton message that shopping locally protects the environment and sustains the community economically. Joia’s, however took the honor. Once again, congratulations, and best wishes for happy spending of the $1000 prize of credit at member stores.
Also to be congratulated are Rob Finnegan and Jessie Varga, whose entries each won the $250 “Sweepstakes” prizes.
Hometown Princeton would like to thank all of the contest entrants for their time and interest. These videos captured and conveyed the growing enthusiasm for keeping Princeton green and economically viable which s the soul of our message. We would like also to thank the judges, Kristin Appelget, Susan Conlon, Peter Crowley, Travis Linderman and Michael Shuman. And especially, we would like to thank Drew and Steph Peloso of Shycast, who organized and executed the contest, for the generous donation of their services and expertise.
We invite your readership to visit the Hometown Princeton Web site and click through to see all of the competing videos. They will remain online and will be shown in January at the Princeton Environmental Film Festival, sponsored by the Princeton Public Library.
Hometown Princeton, founded in September of this year, has made great progress in publicizing one simple message: our community depends on Princeton residents’ patronizing local businesses for all sorts of economic and environmental reasons. We will continue to spread the word in the future, and we hope the community will continue to support initiatives like this video contest.
With warm wishes for the holidays and for a prosperous 2010, we send our best regards.
Nick Hilton
Hometown Princeton
