Birds & Blooms Announces National Backyard Video Contest

		Do you capture great images like this in your backyard? If so, enter the national Birds & Blooms video contest to win a Wingscape BirdCam, sponsored by America's largest garden and bird magazine. Winning videos will be displayed on YouTube. (Photo by Roland Jordahl for Birds & Blooms). (PRNewsFoto/Birds & Blooms/Roland Jordahl) GREENDALE, WI UNITED STATES

GREENDALE, Wis., May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- America's No. 1 garden and bird magazine is launching a new video contest -- and the birds and other wildlife in your yard could be the stars! Birds & Blooms, which has more than 1.6 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, announced the new Backyard Video Contest in its June/July issue, on newsstands this month. The magazine will accept entries of short home videos of birds, squirrels, unexpected backyard visitors, flower transformations and more. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080520/NYTU119 ) "A video contest was a natural progression for us," says Editor Heather Lamb. "We've had great response to our reader photo contest for the past 12 years, and now we're excited to create an opportunity for people to share their moving pictures as well." The best videos will be featured online, with five winners selected. The magazine staff will pick a range of videos to display, but the selection of the top five will be in the hands of online visitors, who will be invited to rank the videos through the Birds & Blooms YouTube site, http://www.youtube.com/birdsandblooms. Each winner will receive a BirdCam kit from the prize sponsor, Wingscapes. Kits include an outdoor mountable camera with accessories valued at more than $300. "I've always been a fan of this magazine," said Bart Stephens, General Manager of Wingscapes. "Birds & Blooms is known for great photography, and now I hope we can help them be known for great videos, too." Entries for the Backyard Video Contest will be accepted now through June 30, 2008 through the Birds & Blooms website, http://www.birdsandblooms.com. Video finalists will be posted on or around July 15. Then, from July 15 until August 15, users can go to the Birds & Blooms YouTube site to watch and rank their favorites. For complete contest rules and details about how to enter, visit http://www.birdsandblooms.com. Birds & Blooms is a bi-monthly magazine that invites readers to share the beauty of their own backyards. For more information or to subscribe, visit the Web site. Birds & Blooms is part of the Home & Garden division of The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.