MONTEGO BAY, St James — Individuals planning to enter the Tourism Product Development Company’s (TPDCo) My Jam-Iconic Experience Challenge are being urged to be creative in their entries for the contest now that they have more time to submit entries.

Contestants are asked to submit videos on Instagram Reels highlighting their experience with Jam-Iconic signs located in Montego Bay, Negril, and Falmouth.

“We are extending the competition because we recognised that… the window was a little short. We want to give participants an opportunity to really throw their creative selves into the competition,” TPDCo’s Corporate Communications and Community Awareness Coordinator Marline Stephenson Dalley told the Jamaica Observer, after indicating that people now have until the end of May to submit entries. The original deadline was April 21.

“If you want to come and do cartwheels or whatever, it’s up to you. It’s part of our destination marketing and pretty much like when you go to other places and you see landmarks — whether it’s Las Vegas or Amsterdam — any of those landmarks that you see all over the place; it has a gravitational pull,” Stephenson Dalley added.

She said the contest will build on that and connect individuals with the local signs on an even greater level.

“The competition wants to really engage locals — and visitors, if they care to, as well — to get involved, to go and share their experiences at these various landmarks and help to promote the cultural and historical significance of some of these places,” said Stephenson Dalley.

“What they have to do is a video reel highlighting the Jam-Iconic experiences, and they can also include in that the parish markers as part of the whole production,” she explained.

She gave a synopsis of contest rules.

“[Videos should be] no less than one minute, no more than a minute and a half, and then the criteria for selection includes creativity, how creatively do you come to the table,” she stated.

“There should be adherence to the theme, which is ‘My Jam-Iconic experience’, and of course, their storytelling activities will also be looked at,” Stephenson Dalley said.

Individuals are also being urged to be mindful of the quality of work submitted.

“You don’t want to have something that, visually, it’s appealing but you can’t hear anything that’s going on; or you can hear everything but the video is so crappy that it doesn’t make sense,” Stephenson Dalley cautioned.

She anticipates that the contest will generate a fair amount of interest, especially among individuals with a greater appreciation of social media and its offerings.

“We have a lot of young people who are very tech-savvy and they are creative that way. They can use their phones to make all kinds of reels and just pour their creative juices into these things,” said Stephenson Dalley.

“We are anticipating that our young people, in particular, will take up the challenge and that they’ll do their posts to their page once they are selected, and we will be asking them to collaborate with us,” she continued.

Entries should be e-mailed to tpdco@gmail.com and those that meet the criteria will all be uploaded by TPDCo.

“It’s not like you did something today and I do something next week and you are ahead of me because you’re in the game; or you have a lot of money to boost your post and I don’t have any money. We want to ensure there is some amount of fairness,” Stephenson Dalley said in explaining that entries would all be uploaded at the same time.

Voters will determine the winners.

“We have a weekend for two at Hyatt Zilara, weekend for two at Deja and SeaGarden resorts, we have two day passes for Ocean Coral Spring, and we have day passes for two adults and two children at Royalton Blue Waters,” said Stephenson Dalley.

“We also have passes for Royalton Negril and the Eco-Explorer tour from Chukka Caribbean Adventures. So, we have a mixed bag of prizes which will give people an opportunity to experience the tourism product,” she added.