iPod Giveaway #2: We Have a Winner

June 5th, 2005

Did you know Bigfoot carried an iPod Shuffle? I didn’t. But thanks to Craig “Trailhead” Grunemeyer of Sparta, New Jersey, we now have video evidence to the contrary. Craig’s Bigfoot video is the winner of the Mike Industries “Great iPods in History” competition, overtaking the rest of the field with a combination of original concept and fitting execution. I will be shipping Craig his iPod Shuffle this week, and thanks to the generosity of Dennis Lloyd and iPodLounge.com, Craig will also receive a pair of top-of-the-line $150 Etymotic ER-6i earbuds and a sport case for his new Shuffle.

With almost 300 entries in this month’s competition, judging was particularly difficult, but in the end, the combination of Craig’s Bigfoot video along with his Iwo Jima photo (pictured below as the first piece in the honor roll slideshow) was enough to set him above the rest. The Iwo Jima photo itself was arguably the best photo entry submitted as well.

If I could award multiple Shuffles, I would, but I can’t, so the best I can do for everyone else is include what I believe to be the top 75 entries in the honor roll slideshow below. The first 15 are my top 15, ranked accordingly, and the last 60 appear in order of submission.

Sweet slideshow component made with SlideShowPro

I also want to give special mention to a few of the entries that I think deserve special praise:

For the better part of the contest (and before Craig’s entries came in), I had almost already decided who the winner would be. Entry #111, submitted by Tommy Perez, hung on my screen for days. It was a depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but the subtle introduction of an iPod Shuffle into the scene in a non-obvious location transformed it from a statement about the way things were 2000 years ago to the way things are today. Here Jesus is, bleeding to death in one of the most important events in world history while detached warrior guy just sits there on the steps listening to Styx. If that’s not a statement about the effect iPods are having on our society, I don’t know what is. * Note: I’m not at all religious, so please no comments about how I’m belittling the plight of Jesus.

The second bit of kudos goes to Tomasz “Jarv” Dobrowolski of Poland who gets the award for best Photoshop skills. Tomasz’s Beethoven, Einstein, and JFK entries were all top-of-class in terms of execution and deserve special praise for their composition.

And finally, the “outside the box” award goes to Matthew Joiner for his “iPod Shuffleography” featuring the likes of Norman Rockwell, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry David Thoreau. Matthew’s mini site, created especially for this competition, is an exercise in creativity and deserves a heaping portion of compliments for its originality.

So anyway, enjoy the slideshow, and stay tuned for the next competition which will begin around the middle of this month (and every month until the end of the year). And remember, of course, that the submission pool for iPod Giveaway ideas is also open until the end of the year. If your idea is chosen, you win an iPod Shuffle.

And last but not least, thanks to Victor Paru of Intel for coming up with this month’s competition.

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16 Responses:

Patrys says:

Thanks for a great competition, looking forward to the next one already.

Too bad I lack the photoshopping skills but I happen to be lucky enough to share the same office with Jarv :).

#1 - June 6th, 2005 at 12:26 am
Andy Myers says:

it was fun, but I was probably a bit too obsessive.

#2 - June 6th, 2005 at 1:41 am
Dulce Rose Lada says:

Wow… congratulations to the winner. Bigfoot just stole the limelight.

#3 - June 6th, 2005 at 2:45 am
jarv says:

congrats to Craig – the video is awesome. and as for the competition – it was really fun. ;]

#4 - June 6th, 2005 at 2:56 am
Dave says:

i personally think craig should have won for his iwo jima image (which i liked better than bigfoot, which was also a great idea). i’m glad to see he won and i hope his work gets a lot of play from this, he deserves it.

#5 - June 6th, 2005 at 6:46 am
matthew says:

Hurrah to the winner, congrats and well done!

#6 - June 6th, 2005 at 7:02 am
Jeff Croft says:

Man, tons of great entries. The bigfoot video rocks — way to go, Craig. Congrats to all the top 75!

#7 - June 6th, 2005 at 7:49 am
Tommy says:

WOW! I am stoked that i was a runner up! I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted an IShuffle!!!!

Great work Craig!

#8 - June 6th, 2005 at 8:21 am
Conann says:

Having severe idea envy, another great comp

#9 - June 6th, 2005 at 9:29 am
Oliver says:

Congrads! Really nice entry from the winner. Great competion going on, I’m loving it!

#10 - June 6th, 2005 at 1:57 pm
Dave says:

Congrats to the winner you did a good job.. bring on next months challenge :D

#11 - June 6th, 2005 at 5:49 pm
Chris says:

Congrats to the winner. Lots of work went into that so well done.

I came 6th?… not bad.

Bring on next months, can we do “iPod’s as weapons” so I can do one of me killing bigfoot and taking his iPod?

#12 - June 6th, 2005 at 6:34 pm
Mike DiPietro (mdipi) says:

That Bigfoot video idea was grade “A” and amazingly executed. It would have been a shame if it didnt win. :D

There were other amazing entries as well! Bravo to all of you guys.

#13 - June 8th, 2005 at 7:39 pm
Anthony Yeung says:

Wow, I must saythat this is a very impressive video, definitely shows out as the winner.

#14 - June 10th, 2005 at 9:25 pm
Collin Yeadon says:

Indeed that video was well done. I think it takes completely different set of skillset to produce the video over photoshop images. Not sure how fair that is but it was a great idea for an entry.

I found this site a little late to submit any myself but I am very impressed with the creativity shown by many of the contestants. So many of my favorites didn’t even make the top of the list but I guess that’s to be expected when you look at the number of awesome graphics made.

I don’t have any love for Ipod but that didn’t stop me from loving the ideas you all shared. Thank you all very much.

#15 - June 11th, 2005 at 10:34 am
Chetan's monologue says:

Ipod shuffleography

Everything and everyone from Jesus to Jim Morrison tote an iPod Shuffle, thanks to Mike Industries. Mike found an artistic way to give away iPod shuffles by running an innovative art with iPod Shuffle contest. The slideshow is an aggregation of the en…

#16 - June 6th, 2005 at 5:44 am

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