When I read the details of the “Vacation Party Candidate” video contest I kicked myself for not entering.  I love to travel and the grand prize was $25,000 in travel from Orbitz.  But when the 3 finalists were announced a few weeks ago I was actually pretty relived that I didn’t submit a video.  That’s because one of the 3 finalists was video contest-super winner Walt Arnett of Lexington, KY.  Over the last few years, Arnett has racked up more than $200,000 in video contest winnings.  I’ve seen him pop up in a ton of contests and he definitely has a formula for success.  It seems like he mostly enters facebook-based contests that decide their winners in two stages.  In the first stage, judges pick some finalists and then in the second stage, facebook votes determine the ultimate winner.  The thing about Arnett is that he is a vote-getting machine.  I’ve seen him win more than a few contests by huge landslides.  So if he can make a video good enough to make the second round of one of these contests, it’s almost guaranteed that he’s going to win the top prize.  And that’s what happened with the Orbitz contest.  Judges picked three finalists and then voters picked the winner.  Here’s his winning submission.  The point of the contest was to explain why you should be “elected” as Orbitz’ Vacation spokesperson:

Orbitz’ Grand Prize Winner.  Prize: $25,000:

In addition to the cash, the winner also gets to go on a little goodwill tour.  This is from an Orbitz press release:

“Arnett will be on a coast-to-(almost)-coast campaign tour where he will share his bold, pro-vacation stance, give out random acts of vacation kindness and most importantly show Americans how to vacation in style. Arnett will make stops at some of the most illustrious hotels in top vacation spots across the country: October 5-6: The Perry South Beach, Miami, October  12-13: Mirage, Las Vegas, October 19-20: The Peninsula, Chicago.”

Hmmm, I wonder what kind of “acts of vacation kindness” he’ll be performing.  I know Walt is a reader of VCN and I happen to live in the Chicago area.  If he’s giving out freebies maybe he can tell me where and when he’ll be and he can slip me a travel voucher!