Video Competition to Help Preserve Bay Area Parks

A video competition about visiting Bay Area state parks may help their preservation during statewide funding cuts, according to state park officials.

Sony Corp. will donate $20 for every sale of their Vegas Movie Studio Platinum video editing software, which can be used to capture, edit and create material, to America's State Parks.

The national organization will allocate a portion of the money to fund California's State Parks. In order to raise awareness for the state park system during a period of reduced budgets, park visitors can use the software to create films about their experiences and enter an amateur video competition.

Movie submissions will be accepted until September 1 and the prizes include Sony Playstation gaming systems, Sony VAIO laptops and Sony Bloggie cameras.

Videos will be featured on the America's State Parks YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/AmericasStateParks. Winners will be announced on November 1, park officials said. America's State Parks will also offer a $30 discount to the public on the editing software.

- Bay City News