Winners of the “What I’m Waiting for” Video Contest

It’s time to announce the winners of the “What I’m Waiting for” video contest I hosted for the launch of my new book, The In-Between. All the entries were amazing in their own way, which, frankly, made me a little sad I could choose only three winners.

As inspiration for the contest, I shared my own book trailer, which was created by the fine folks at Moody Publishers. For your reference, here it is again:

And with that, the contestants were off in pursuit of their prizes. Just to remind you, they were:

First place: $25 Amazon gift card
Second place: $100 Amazon gift card
First place: Amazon Kindle Fire

So let’s see who won what. Without further ado, here are the winners…

Third Place: Anne Peterson — “The In-Between Is a Book for Everyone”

Why liked this video: Anne did a great job capturing the essence of the book in this video and made it fun with the use of the character Pinocchio. She also used an entire production team of her daughter to accomplish the task. Well done, Anne!

Second Place: Mark Van Horn — “The Little Moments”

Why I liked this video: The production quality of the video and voiceover script made this good enough to make me want to hire Mark for my next book trailer. His subtle visual storytelling through scenes of his daughters was captivating. Here’s what he said:

For me. The little moments in-between, are those moments in your child’s life, the little ones. Blink and its gone. Kids grow up so fast. And its the little moments in-between all the running around, sick days, graduations, games, and tantrums that will really stick with you. Cherish those moments in-between.

And now for the winner…

First Place: Mike Burns — “What I’m Waiting for”

Why I liked this video: As far as I know, nothing I’ve written has ever inspired a hip song… until now.

The video quality, original music, and lyrical content all made this entry the clear winner. It was original, interesting, and excellent. Plus, the theme of achieving your dreams was especially powerful for me.

I’ve listened to it probably a dozen times since it was submitted, and I can’t get enough of it. Here are the lyrics:

What I’m waiting for is the next big thing,

for the chance to help more people and the joy that it brings

bling bling– the phone rings,

They were encouraged by a post or a song

I’m waiting for the time when I can do what I love to do

all day long…that’s what I’m waiting for

To work with my wife and kids and produce things and write

It takes patience man that kind of thing don’t happen overnight

And in the stillness of the waiting, I’m learning and it’s giving me wings

and now I’m waiting to see what the waiting brings…

that’s what I’m waiting for…

Honorable mentions

As I said, I enjoyed watching every entry, but there were a few that especially connected with me. Here are a few that didn’t win but were still excellent:

In his video, Mike Skiff talked about the legacy left by the death of his son (warning: this will make you cry). Watch it here.
In this video, one contestant rewrote the words to a song from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, setting it to the theme of The In-Between. I loved the lyrics. Watch and listen here
In his video, Peter talked about how he overcame his panic attacks and learned to enjoy his summer break. Watch it here.

Thanks to everyone who submitted! You can watch the rest of the video contest submissions here. And if you won, you should be getting an email from me today.

Now that you’ve watched these videos, how have you been inspired to use your in-between moments better? Share in the comments.

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Are you ready to embrace the "in-between" and experience all life has to offer? Check out my new book