Learn More About The First Huddler Contest

Update: April 25th, 2008

Contest Winners

Well, the contest is over.

First of all, thank you to all of you who wrote reviews and wikis during the past few weeks. We had a lot of really excellent submissions and you've really helped provide a ton of value to the community. It was tough to only pick ten winners, but have no fear. There will again one day be another Huddler contest. Another chance to let your green content shine and get some cool stuff to boot.

Drum roll please.......(drums on desk)......and the winners are (in alphabetical order):

Alanwells (with 18 amazing wikis)
Dana1981 (with 3 dazzling wikis and 6 dreamy reviews)
Draes (with 7 divine reviews)
Greenhybrid (with 5 glorious reviews)
Lapyles (with 7 lovely reviews)
Morizongreen (with 4 magnificent reviews)
Oakling (with 1 outstanding wiki and 6 omnific reviews)
Organicgal007 (with 1 opulent wiki and 5 olympic reviews)
SoCalSolar (with 7 sensational reviews)
Treehugger (with 9 tremendous reviews)

Congratulations!

Thank you again for all your contributions,

The entire Huddler Team

April 2nd, 2008

So you want to know more about the contest, huh?

What you have to do (in a nutshell)

We’ll be keeping reports of all of the reviews and wiki articles created between April 2^nd and Earth Day (April 22^nd). Anyone (well…not quite anyone – see the official rules for details) who writes at least three (3) reviews or two (2) original wiki articles will be automatically entered into the contest. But to start off, the first thing you have to do is join the Huddle, if you haven’t already.

Remember, your entries will be judged on quality!

Writing reviews

Writing reviews is pretty simple. If you have owned or have used a product listed in the Huddle, visit its product page and write a review. But now let’s go over that, step by step.

Okay, so say you’re lucky enough to own a Vectrix electric scooter. Start by browsing to the product page.
Click the “Own it button."
Select where the product goes. And click the “Add” button.
Then the review box will automatically come up. Fill in all your great expertise (make sure you put a review title, text in the full review, and an overall star rating – those are the required fields) and click the “Submit Review” button.

Writing wikis

This part of the contest is a little more complicated. See…you can’t just edit an existing wiki. You might want to. And of course usually we encourage collaboration! It certainly will get you brownie points for the contest. But your “minimum of two original wiki articles” must be created by you yourself.

So to start off, head over to the wiki home (i.e. the Wiki tab at the top).
Then hit the “Create a New Wiki” link.
This will open up a window for you to enter your brilliant, succinct wiki title. After you type it in, click the “Save” button.
Then your beautiful blank wiki template will open. There you can add text, images, video, or anything your heart desires (of course, as long as it abides by our official rules).
When you’re all done (you can of course come back and edit any time), scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit the “Save” or “Preview” button (if you preview, make sure you save it after that – it’s a bummer when you forget and you navigate away and lose all your work).

Wiki suggestions:

While we’re sure you have plenty of ideas about great wikis, here are a few suggestions:

Comparison of geothermal and air source heat pumps
Comparison of vertical and horizontal wind turbines
Comparison of various online/publicly available carbon calculators
Introduction to cap and trade systems
Discussion of eco-activism and eco-terrorism
How to build a compost
How different types of lighting controls (e.g. motion sensors, daylight level sensors) work
Buyer’s guide to greywater systems
Buyer’s guide to solar water heaters
Buyer’s guide to tankless water heaters
(basically any buyer’s guide)

Judging

Our fabulous Huddler staff will toil over who will win. We will be judging the reviews and wikis on a qualitative basis. We will be looking for effort, thoroughness, validity (you might be a great short story writer but we’re looking for facts when it comes to the difference between oil fired and gas furnaces), and that gut feeling that just makes us say “Wow! That’s an awesome contribution to the Huddle!” Once again, there will only be ten lucky winners.

Brownie points

As we’ve mentioned before, the minimum to be entered into the contest is three (3) reviews or two (2) original wikis. But there are several ways to get brownie points:

Write MORE reviews
Write MORE wikis
Edit some wikis in addition to your originals
Post in the forums
Add some photos of you enjoying the products you own, like Stins and her Prius or Dana1981 and his iMoto2

Prizes

Well...over here at the Huddler headquarters, we have been working hard to put together some sweet prizes for you. You've gotten the general overview but here are the details on each item.

Messenger bag: The Owl Eco is made from 100% post-consumer recycled nylon. It has one large main compartment; the flap secures with snap buckles; there’s a Velcro pocket under the front flap, a side water bottle pocket, and a detachable/adjustable shoulder strap. Plus it’s got the cool Huddler logo on it.
EarthLED CL-3 LED light bulbs: Each prize contains one CL-3 bulb, which can directly replace a 45 watt incandescent bulb. It produces no UV radiation and can even be used for the illumination of photographs or works of art where UV can fade or destroy these objects. And did we mention that it’ll last for 50,000 hours and only costs $1.30 to run 12 hours a day for a whole year?
SpringLight compact fluorescent light bulbs: Each prize includes 2 of these new standard (i.e. not dimmable), Soft White, Energy Star certified bulbs. They are 60 watt equivalent bulbs with a CO2 reduction rating of 667 pounds and savings of up to $55!
Eco Touch waterless car wash and polish: This waterless car wash is non-toxic, biodegradable, and silicone-free. Not to mention…it’s waterless! One bottle can save up to 800 gallons of water from traditional car washing.
Biokleen all purpose spray and wipe cleaner: This non-toxic cleaner uses natural citrus peel extracts, grapefruit seed extract, and cold pressed Valencia orange oil. It can be used on stainless steel, chrome, carpet stains, upholstery, laundry stains, toilets, showers, plant leaves, countertops, autos and more.
Earth Friendly Products Dishmate hand dishwashing liquid: This dishwashing liquid is gentle on your hands but tough on grease. It’s made from water, coconut oil based surfactants, salt, and 100% essential oils. It’s non-toxic, biodegradable, natural, and non-polluting. And it’s in a recyclable bottle!
Method daily shower spray: Made from naturally derived, safe, biodegradable ingredients, this shower spray works on mildew, hard water stains and lime stains. Not only that, Method products are never tested on animals and packaged in recyclable materials.
GreenLaces shoelaces: Yes, indeed. They are green shoelaces, both in color and in concept. They are made from 100% recycled plastic in the U.S. They will be worn by one thousand Olympic athletes this summer in Beijing. GreenLaces are the new Lance Armstrong wristbands.