Video your most effective, innovative, and fun physical education activity with your class or with other teachers, then upload it to PEuniverse.com, an idea-sharing Web community for physical education professionals. Here are some quick pointers for meeting video submission requirements:

• Submissions must clearly demonstrate your physical education activity.
• The activities you video must be appropriate for grades K-6 or 7-12.
• The activities must meet one or more of the NASPE standards.
  (These standards are listed on the upload form at PEuniverse.com.)
• Instruction should be provided either with voice narration or by embedding text in your video.
• Your submission ideally should be 90 to 120 seconds in length.

Don't have a video camera? Borrow one from a friend or from your school's A/V department. It could help you win a share of $50,000 in Gopher merchandise!

Enter the contest by uploading your video to PEuniverse.com‚ an idea-sharing community for physical education professionals. The site's upload feature is easy to use, and the process will only take a few minutes. Membership is required, but it's free and gives you access to a world of ideas and interaction with other professionals.

Videos must be uploaded by February 5, 2010.

Entrants will receive a free FITstep™ pedometer for each qualifying submission, and there is no limit to the number of videos submitted per entrant. The more qualifying videos you submit, the better your chances of winning!

Ten finalist videos will be selected by an independent panel of experts selected for their knowledge and activity in the physical education community. They will choose five video entries appropriate for grades K-6 and five for grades 7-12. The opinion of the judges will be final.

The 10 videos will be posted on PEuniverse.com from February 15, 2010, to April 15, 2010. Your vote will determine which professionals have the Best Activity Idea in America.!

All PEuniverse.com members are able to vote for their favorite video and determine who will win $50,000 in Gopher merchandise. Members of PEuniverse.com will each be given five (5) votes that they can assign to finalist videos as they choose. Finalists will be awarded prizes based on the highest number of community votes.

Prizes totaling $50,000 will be awarded to the five finalists in each age group: Two (2) 1st Prizes $12,500, two (2) 2nd Prizes $7,500, two (2) 3rd Prizes $2,500, two (2) 4th Prizes $1,500, and two (2) 5th Prizes $1,000. Winners will be notified April 1, 2010 and posted on PEuniverse.com.

Important Promotion Rules:
Qualifying submissions must only originate from schools, public or private, teaching any of the grades K-12. All other enterprises are not eligible for this promotion. All entrants must be authorized by their school to act on their school's behalf for purposes of this promotion. All entries must be submitted by 2/05/10 to be eligible. All entrants and winners agree to let us use their video submission for promotional purposes. Unfortunately, PEuniverse.com cannot be responsible for lost or delayed entries. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted. If taxes or the like are due to any governmental body on this prize value, those taxes or fees are the responsibility of the prizewinners. No purchase necessary to enter or to win. Prize values will be issued as a merchandise credit to your school's account. No discounts or other promotions can be applied to your prize value, and prize values are not redeemable for cash. Prize values must be redeemed by 12/31/10. Any disputes shall be resolved exclusively by mediation or arbitration in the state of Minnesota. Your odds of winning will vary depending on the number of entries received. All prizes will be awarded.

Which videos are eligible for this contest?

That’s an excellent question! One of the goals of the promotion is to generate additional content in our already sizeable library for users of PEuniverse.com. Since Gopher’s Best Activity Idea in America™ promotion kicked off, users have been presented with a checkbox during the video upload process to indicate entry in the promotion. Upload your best activities by February 5, 2010, check the box, and you’re entered!

Will my video be indentified as an entry prior to judging?

Videos uploaded with the entry box for the promotion checked will be eligible to win a share of the $50,000 in Gopher merchandise, however, they will not be identifiable as such to the general public. An independent panel of experts will select 10 finalists after February 15, 2010, from which PEuniverse.com community members can vote to determine which professionals have the Best Activity Idea in America™! For voting purposes, only these selected 10 videos will be identified as entries, and only after February 15, 2010. All videos entered in the promotion will remain in the general population after the promotion has ended, but not be identified as such.

Do we really just vote for what activity we like best with the current rating system on PEuniverse.com?

Rating videos is an ongoing, persistent feature of the PEuniverse.com website and not part of the Best Activity Idea in America™ promotion. Voting is part of the promotion and is open to community members of PEuniverse.com. Membership is free and gives you access to a world of ideas and interaction with other professionals. Voting takes place from February 15, 2010 (when an independent panel of experts will select 10 videos as finalists) to April 15, 2010. On February 15, the 10 videos will be posted for community voting. They will remain viewable until April 15, 2010. Each community member will be given five (5) votes that they can assign to finalists selected by a panel of experts. Finalists will be awarded prizes based on the highest number of community votes.

Can people improve their chances of winning by getting their friends and family to vote for them?

Only PEuniverse.com members can cast votes. Voting is not open to the general public. We cannot rule out or monitor this kind of activity, of course, but don't believe it's going to be an issue. The PEuniverse.com community is a respectable group of physical education professionals who we are confident will want the winners to be selected on the merit of the activity idea submitted. A more ethical way to improve one’s chances of winning is to submit many videos. There is no limit to the number of videos submitted per entrant. The more qualifying videos you submit, the better your chances of winning! Entrants will receive a free FITstep™ pedometer for each qualifying submission.