Atlanta – Pittsburgh AmeriCorps member Jamie Walker will win a $5,000 volunteer vacation from Travelocity for taking first place in this year’s AmeriCorps video contest for his “Why AmeriCorps? Why Not!” video.

The 60-second video shows AmeriCorps members in the KEYS Service Corps tutoring and mentoring and intersperses quotes about why they joined and how their service made an impact; with members calling the experience “eye-opening, challenging, life-changing, and empowering.”

The top three videos were shown to hundreds of AmeriCorps program directors yesterday at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in Atlanta. Thirty-five videos were submitted for the contest, all by current AmeriCorps members and alums. The winning videos were selected based on votes from the public and a panel of judges.

“This video contest gave us a chance to tap into the incredible creativity of AmeriCorps members and alums,” said Kristin McSwain, director of AmeriCorps. “We were thrilled with the response and the excitement this contest generated, and look forward to using these videos to recruit more AmeriCorps members.”

Second place in the contest went to Ashley Andersen, an AmeriCorps VISTA serving at Big Brothers Big Sisters in Salt Lake City, Utah, for her video “Will You Join the Fight?” She will receive an iPod Shuffle, courtesy of AmeriCorps Alums. Third place want to “I Serve Here” by Michelle Mizner, an AmeriCorps VISTA who serves at Generations Incorporated in Boston, Mass. She will receive an AmeriCorps Alums Prize Pack.

Walker, who serves as an instructor at an after-school program and summer camp, has never been outside the United States is thrilled about the Travelocity volunteer vacation. “I won't change the world, but I will get the opportunity to change a very, very small part of the world. Whenever a lot of people make a lot of seemingly small changes through volunteerism, activism, caring, programs like AmeriCorps, that's when we'll see the world change on an enormous scale.” Stories of other volunteer vacations can be found at Travelocity’s website http://travelforgood.igougo.com/.

Last year’s top three contest winners will be sent to thousands of television stations across the country this summer as part of a public service ad campaign to recruit more AmeriCorps members. All the videos will be posted on YouTube, Yahoo, and other sites popular with potential AmeriCorps recruits. The contest is part stepped up efforts by the Corporation for National and Community Service to embrace new media and Web 2.0 strategies to support recruitment and other goals. Other recent tools include a blog by an AmeriCorps NCCC team; RSS feeds; “in-their-own-words” videos; stories of service, and the AmeriCorps eCommunity.

The contest was part of AmeriCorps Week, a national recognition and recruitment event that took place May 11-18. The week featured more than 250 events including service projects, recruitment fairs, school presentations, alumni gatherings, awards ceremonies.

AmeriCorps engages 75,000 people each year in intensive, results-driven service through more than 2,000 nonprofits across the country. Among other activities, members tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, teach computer skills, clean parks and streams, run after-school programs, help communities respond to disasters, and recruit and train volunteers. Since 1994, more than 500,000 men and women have served in AmeriCorps. Interested individuals can learn about available opportunities and apply online by visiting http://www.americorps.gov.

AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. The Corporation improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. For more information, visit http://www.nationalservice.gov.

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