Discover Dominica Authority Announces Winners of the 1st Annual Film Challenge

Discover Dominica Authority (DDA) today announced that the Grand Prize winner of the first-ever Dominica Film Challenge is the team of Trent Hilborn (@trenthilborn) and Josh Becker (@jshbckr) for their video “Dominica: The New.” The winning team received a cash prize of $4,000.

In addition, Trevor Paulhus (@trevorpaulhus), was awarded the People’s Choice Award ($1,000 cash prize) for the collection of photographs he combined into a hand-bound book that captured the beauty and passion of Dominica’s people.

Earlier this year, DDA conducted a global search to find teams of adventurous filmmakers, photographers, and storytellers to participate in the inaugural Dominica Film Challenge. The six finalist teams, selected from over 1,000 entries, spent a week on Dominica documenting their experiences. Each team then compiled their work into a short film or photographic narrative.

“In planning the Film Challenge, our goal was to capture a truly authentic Nature Island experience through the eyes of these talented folks,” said Colin Piper, CEO and director of tourism for DDA. “What each team was able to produce was even better than we could have imagined.”

Projects were posted online at dominicachallenge.com where the public was invited to vote for the project they felt best told Dominica’s story and most inspired the viewer to "discover their inner explorer." Voters were also given a chance to win a 6-day, 5-night trip to the Nature Island.

Film Challenge coordinators and DDA would like to thank all teams for their participation, and their amazing creativity and spirit of adventure: Sam Horine (@samhorine), Alexandra Klasinski (@thealexandrak), Van Ditthavong (@runvanrun), Jillian Mann and Kyla Trethewey (@ourwildabandon), Sarah Jensen (@sarahjjensen), and Amy Hobbs (@iamamyhobbs). To learn more about the Film Challenge, view all 2014 team entries, or apply for the 2015 Film Challenge visit dominicachallenge.com.