Sophomore integrative media majors Ashley Carloni and Jess Dibernardo won Wilkes video contest with “What it means to be a Colonel.”

The winning video entry focused on the different buildings and places found around campus and the colonel himself even made an appearance. Multiple interviews were featured from students in different majors on what they personally think it means to be a colonel.

“We just took a lot of different students and put them into one piece,” Dibernardo said.

Although they just began making videos, the pair decided to enter the video contest when Dibernardo saw it advertised online.

“A lot of integrative media students do it,” she said. “When I watched the ones from last year I thought that we would be able to do it too.”

The contest was announced to all students in the beginning of the semester by the Marketing Communications Department. Participants were asked to create a video focusing on a specific aspect of Wilkes University to reach out to prospective students and submit it by March 13. Students could enter the contest individually, with a group, or in a pair like Carloni and Dibernardo.

Electronic voting for the contest officially began on March 18 and ran until April 1. It was open to all students, faculty, staff and anyone who had access to the voting webpage. Carloni and Dibernardo took advantage of the technology friendly process by getting the word out through social networking websites.

“We were so annoying about it when it came to voting,” Carloni said.

Voters had the option to choose “What it means to be a Colonel” by Carloni and Dibernardo or “A Two-wheel Tour of Wilkes” created by freshman participant Anthony Fanucci.

Fanucci’s video provided a bicycle tour of an exploration of the Wilkes campus.

“I tried to incorporate my No. 1 hobby which is biking with the contest,” he said. “So, my video basically is a continuous tour of Wilkes so students can see where buildings are in relation to one another.”

Coming in second place, he won $250 in prize money and plans to enter the contest again next year.

“It was filmed really nicely,” Carloni and Dibernardo agreed on his video.

The two first place winners received a $500 cash prize and plan to split it among other things.

“First we’re celebrating with sushi,” Carloni said. “I’m just going to try to pay my credit card bill, probably.”

Both agree that the experience was worthwhile and that they would like to enter the contest again next year.

“I think more people should do it,” Dibernardo said. “It was a lot of fun.”