Hillsville Mascot Contest Open to the World... Err, Whoever Hears About It
Hillsville, a small Southwest Virginia town, is holding a contest -- open to anyone around the world -- to find a mascot that will "not only capture Hillsville's history, but also serve as an emblem of its identity," reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch (entries will be accepted through December 31, 2006 and have to be mailed to Hillsville Town Hall, P.O. Box 545, Hillsville, VA 24343, after which the top three will be voted on by local residents).
Problem is, except for the Time-Dispatch mention, and probably the local town newspaper, I didn't find the contest mentioned here or here, or anywhere else... but maybe I missed it.
No doubt the people who care most about the mascot are Hillsville's own residents, so probably most entries will come from that group. And I don't know overall how "connected" the town is (although the historic district is an Internet hot spot), so the mail-in requirement might be most suitable. But wouldn't it be great if the town also publicized the contest on the other sites mentioned above, or even set up a blog specifically for that purpose, inviting people to leave suggestions in the comments? Something along the lines of hillsvillevirginiamascotcontest.com/ or hillsvillemascotworldcontest.com/?
Maybe it would have helped make this a world contest and put Hillsville on the map.
Tags: Hillsville, Virginia, mascot, contest,
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Or maybe they don't want to be the next victim of the Colbert Nation.
Posted by: Ike | November 21, 2006 at 02:46 PM
Someone needs to get this to Stephen Colbert. He'll unleash the Colbert Nation and Hillsville Virginia will get their version of Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle (details here: http://www.deadspin.com/sports/mascots/your-basic-cable-themed-minor-league-hockey-mascot-204565.php).
Posted by: Rick Klau | November 21, 2006 at 03:17 PM
Victim? I think you meant beneficiary.
:)
Just kidding, though I think Saginaw's been quite happy with the publicity... Hungary, on the other hand: not so much.
http://digg.com/politics/Colbert_wins_first_round_for_Hungarian_bridge
Posted by: Rick Klau | November 21, 2006 at 09:52 PM
Colbert would have a field day with this.
Posted by: Andrea Weckerle | November 21, 2006 at 10:21 PM
Isn't this totally symptomatic of a lot of no-web professionals' approach to the web?
I've lost count of the amount of times I've spoken to people who are disillusioned after having paid for a site to be designed and hosted, only to get nothing from it. Then when you ask them why on earth someone who didn't know about the site would come across it, the penny drops.
Tim Berners-Lee was talking in the British Press* a lot this month about how there's a big skills gap in the web services market at the moment. That there are techies and marketeers and not enough people who can bridge the gap between the 2 fields. I couldn't agree more.
*Link to TBL's comment on the BBC site via my post (http://www.longstory.co.uk/2006/11/02/who-knows/)
Posted by: Sam Smith | November 24, 2006 at 04:52 AM