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Skipjack News
| Meet The 2011 Host Our Coast: Ryan Brooks |
Delmarva Peninsula – Following three months of competition, the award-winning travel journalism contest known as Host Our Coast™ has chosen a winner for the 2011 summer season. The contest was created to select a summer travel journalist who will spend the summer exploring Delmarva’s beaches, bays, and beyond, and report back daily with online videos, photos, and blog posts. The lucky winner will be paid $15,000 to play on Delmarva’s Coast all summer and will be provided with free living accommodations along the Delaware and Maryland beaches for the entire three month assignment.
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The winner of the 2011 Host Our Coast contest is Ryan Brooks. Ryan was one of 20 contestants vying to win Host Our Coast. Melanie McLean, who participated in the inaugural season of Host Our Coast, partnered with Ryan on the application process, and will be joining him for Season 3.
Ryan studied photography at William Paterson University. Much to his mother’s chagrin, he skipped graduation to go globetrotting and joined the Peace Corps soon after. He served two years in the Easter Caribbean as a Youth and Community Development Volunteer before moving to New York City to chase his photographic dreams. Now you can find him pedaling around Brooklyn taking pictures and drinking craft brew on any given day of the week.
After graduating from Rutgers University with a degree in journalism, Melanie darted over to Hawaii for a quick 10-month tour as an Air Force public affairs officer. She was soon released into the wilds of New York City to pursue her story-telling destiny. Since embarking as a full-time photographer three years ago, her work has taken her around South America, through Europe and up and down the East Coast of the United States. She was most recently residing in Jersey City, NJ with her resilient basil plant.
The two met just after settling into the city in 2007 while assisting a rock photography legend. While on their most recent adventure to Guatemala and Belize, the pair worked on their first series of videos, including an impromptu rap video on the Caribbean Sea and guide to a local attraction in Coban, Guatemala.
Ryan and Melanie’s application process included posting an initial 60-second video to YouTube, and submitting a headshot, brief bio, and sample travel blog post. Fans of Host Our Coast voted and rated each of the contestant's applications. Ryan and Melanie’s video, combined with his excellent storytelling and engaging personality, won over the Host Our Coast judges. Ryan and Melanie will now spend the summer exploring the parks, small towns, events, museums, and heritage sites of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and creating an online video and photo gallery, a daily travel blog, and a social network through Facebook and Twitter.
Host Our Coast is sponsored by a partnership developed among Delmarva Low-Impact Tourism Experiences (DLITE), Worcester County Tourism, Full City Media, Southern Delaware Tourism, the Rural Development Center at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, OceanCity.com, Delaware Tourism Office, Somerset County Tourism, Wicomico County Tourism, Resort Quest, the Town of Berlin, and numerous Delmarva hospitality industry businesses and conservation organizations.
Host Our Coast has been telling the best of Delmarva's travel stories online since summer 2009. In November 2009, Host Our Coast was awarded the prestigious “Visit Maryland Award” by Governor Martin O’Malley and the Maryland State Office of Tourism, and the “Professional Impact Award” from the Maryland Tourism Council. In April 2011, Host Our Coast received the Delaware Tourism Award of the Year from Governor Jack Markell for a creative approach to electronic marketing of regional tourism.
To learn more about Host Our Coast, please visit http://www.HostOurCoast.com.
Please forward all questions to:
Jim Rapp/DLITE - 443-614-0261 - .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Ryan Brooks - 201-574-5387 - .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Melanie McLean - 301-325-6611 - .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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