Since it’s Valentine’s Day I thought I’d show our sponsors a little love and list some of the biggest and best contests that are being run on Poptent, Mofilm and Tongal right now!  Enter one of these and maybe next year you’ll be able to buy your significant other something better than gas station roses and a blank card from the dollar store:

Poptent’s Orange County Credit Union Assignment:  When it comes to Poptent assignments I always tell people to skip the “fun” ones.  Right now Poptent is running contests for Popsicle and Lay’s Potato Chips and and those assignments are going to get an avalanche of entries.  Anyone can buy a box of Popsicle and make a fun video.  But it takes real talent to make a Credit Union seem fun.  So the Orange Country Credit Union assignment is probably the one you should focus on this month.  There probably won’t be a lot of submissions plus the purchase price is $10,000!  The goal is to motivate viewers to open a new checking account “by delivering an uplifting and aspirational message.”  This assignment also comes with a very special bonus prize.  The best “Early Bird” video submitted before February 18th will win $1,000.  So if you’re going to enter this one, you might as well shoot your entry this weekend. Deadline:  March 4th, 2013.  For more details. click here.

Mofilm’s “Texas 2013″ HSBC contest:  Oh crap!  It’s already February and once again I forgot to make plans to go to Austin for South by South West.  Every fall my friends and I tell each other that as soon as passes go on sale we’re going to buy some and do SXSW for real this time.  But once again we forgot and now the passes are probably sold out and every hotel room in town is probably booked.  But there’s still one other way you can get to SXSW this year.  You can win one of the categories in Mofilm’s “Texas 2013″ competition.  The deadline for most of the categories is February 18th but the deadline for the HSBC contest was just extended to February 21st.  When a sponsor extends their deadline it sometimes means that they’re not happy with the entries they’ve gotten so far.  So this might be a good chance for you to slide in and win one of the prizes that are at stake.  (UPDATE:  Turns out that Mofilm hasn’t actually received any HSBC entries yet since most videos are submitted within 48 hours before the deadline.  The HSBC deadline was extended simply because the brief went up late.)  First place gets you $8,000 plus a trip for two to Austin, TX for SXSW.  If you do win, I’m available to go as your +1.  I will pay you back by buying you some BBQ brisket at the Iron Works.  Deadline:  February 21st, 2013.  For more info, click here.

Tongal’s Excedrin Contest:  As soon as I’m done with this post I’m gonna start working on a Pitch for this contest.  Excedrin is offering $75,000 in prizes and there are lots of ways to win some cash.  Unlike most Tongal contests, this one doesn’t have an idea phase.  So if you want to enter you have to submit a pitch based on 1 of 16 pre-approved scenarios.  Each scenario is a different “Headache Inducing Situation” like waiting in line at the DMV and sitting in rush hour traffic.  Excedrin will pay 16 pitch winners (one for each idea) 700 bucks so they can produce their video.  In the video phase, there are 20(!) prizes ranging from $500 to $20,000.  Even if you don’t win a Pitch prize, you can still shoot and submit a “wild card” video.  Pitch Deadline:  February 28th, 2013.  For details, head here.

Good luck and Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!  Never forget, Beardy loves you!