And the winners of the palmSpot video contest are…

A few months back Dan (aka @vara411) sent me an IM saying “Hey, what do you think about having a contest where people make videos about what makes webOS so great?” And with that little question palmSpot was born. At first we figured we may get a few entries. After all it isn’t easy to create a video and webOSroundup was a pretty new site at the time.

Roy had the fabulous idea of asking Palm if they wanted to get on board. They graciously said yes and provided us with some Pre smarthpones and Touchstone chargers to give away.

Next thing we know one of our early entries goes viral and gets on just about every tech blog on the planet… from there it was off to the races. It has been quite a ride, and we could not have anticipated the turnout or the excitement that the contest has generated. We were initially hoping for a dozen or so videos… in the end we had a total of 34 videos submitted!

We owe all of this awesomesauce first and foremost to every single person and team who worked hard and created a video for the contest. You guys and gals really are amazing and your dedication to the platform we all love is unmatched.

Second, a HUGE thank you goes out to all of the people who watched the videos and voted in both rounds, over 23,000 of you!!

Last, but definitely not least, we want to thank Palm and Apress for helping to provide some of the wonderful prizes we will be giving away today.

Thank you all so much! And with that… let’s announce some winners shall we?

Important note… if you are one of the lucky winners here, please email us and give us your mailing address so we can send you your prizes!

Judging was done by taking all of the votes from the public and ranking the top three. We repeated this process with the votes from all of the judges and then we averaged the two to give them a 50/50 split. In the case of a tie (of which we had one), we gave the public vote the deciding push.

As a reminder, here are what our lucky winners will be taking home:

• Honorable Mention: 2 Books from Apress!
  • Practical Palm Pre WebOS Projects
  • Beginning Smartphone Web Development
• Runners Up: Each category will have two runners up that will receive a Touchstone charging kit and books from Apress.
• First Prize: The best video in each category will receive a new Palm Pre, a Touchstone charging kit, and books from Apress!
• Grand Prize: In addition to the first prize goodies, the creator of the best video in the contest will have their Pre completely pimped out including:
  • Jawbone Icon bluetooth headset
  • Invisible Shield
  • Seidio Innocell 1350mAh Extended battery
  • International travel power kit
  • $100 so you can load up your tricked out phone with the best apps on the planet

Funniest

“One of the few videos with an actual cast.  Definitely the only one with fake beards.  It’s got the humor element down.” – Roy Sutton

• 1st Place: “Magic” by Eric Dietel
• 2nd Place: “Dad” by IcerC
• 3rd Place: “iBeat iPhone” by Harlan Haskins and Thomas Coe
• Honorable Mention: “The Palm webOS Experience” by Levodigital

Best Use of webOS

“When it comes to ‘Best use of webOS’ it’s tough to beat Adam Marks’ submission.  All the major features of webOS are covered and explained well.” – Roy Sutton

• 1st Place: “webOS Does, and Does, and Does some more” by Adam Marks
• 2nd Place: “Flash Card Flaunt” by Victor M. Otero
• 3rd Place: “So, What Can the Palm Pre Do?”, by Aaron Gallo
• Honorable Mention: “Gaming for your Pre!” by Adrian Fernandez

Most Original

This category actually ended in a tie between the judges and the public. The public decided 33% – 25% that they preferred the video by ThiesFX so it was chosen as the winner.

The video by ThiesFX was just about as slick and beautiful as webOS itself. – David Baxter

(r)evolution is simple, compelling, engaging, accessible (sorta like Palm webOS….) – Jon Zilber

• 1st Place: “Fan-made ad for Palm webOS” by ThiesFX
• 2nd Place: “(r)evolution” by Beth Garrison
• 3rd Place: “Palm Pre, du bist so wunderbar” by Virox
• Honorable Mention: “Full Deck” by Jason Love

Best Overall

For best video overall we ended up in a grudge match between “webOS Does, and Does, and Does some more” by Adam Marks and “Fan-made ad for Palm webOS” by ThiesFX. In the end, ThiesFX got his opponent in a sleeper hold for the win.

Congratulations “Fan-made ad for Palm webOS” by ThiesFX!!!!!

Thank you everyone for proving, once again, that webOS fans are the best on the planet.