Hot off the presses! The winning t-shirt design T’s are in!
It’s been a couple months since we crowned the champ of the 2011 Outer Banks T-Shirt Design Contest, but I’m happy to report that the winning t-shirts are officially in my hands and available for sale.
These gorgeous T-’s are only $10, and all of the proceeds are being donated to the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.
Please give us a call if you want to scoop one up! (877) 496-0847
OBX T-Shirt Design: 2011 Winning T
During the 2011 summer, we started a new Seaside Vacations tradition and ran a contest to design an Outer Banks t-shirt. Such a great contest. Here we are in December, and we’re still talking about it!
We received a whole bunch of amazing designs, and after some heated voting on our Facebook page, we crowned the Mermaid design as champ – thanks to the fantastic talents of Ms. Patsy.
Outer Banks T-Shirt Design Contest: "Mermaid" - Winning Design
In my mind, all was said and done. We mailed off Patsy’s prize (a free OBX getaway), and we had some fabulous t-shirts designed and sent to the printer. I was looking forward to our sweet 2012 Outer Banks t-shirts, but my mind had moved on to other tasks.
And then the t-shirt contest gave us a nice surprise. Our team of Vacation Specialists loved the winning design, but they had a soft-spot for one of the other designs. They took it upon themselves to have t-shirts made for the “runner-up,” Ms. SuAnn, and each member of our reservations team. Taken alone, this is a great story…but it gets better.
Outer Banks T-Shirt Design Contest: SuAnn's Design
Outer Banks T-Shirt Contest: Awesome T-shirts!
We put up a blog post to recognize the unsung hero of the contest and show off the new t-shirts, and the greatness snowballed from there. The team of Vacation Specialists were touched by this awesome design – and amazing person – and luckily I was able to capture a tiny piece of this genuine happiness in the blog post.
As a result, Ms. Patsy – i.e. the amazing artist that designed the winning t-shirt – saw the post and offered to give her free OBX getaway to Ms. SuAnn. Actually, let me rephrase that; she demanded (in a very nice way, of course 
) that the prize must go to SuAnn. Patsy made it clear that her decision was made. She packaged up the vacation voucher and a card for SuAnn, and she sent it back to the Seaside Vacations office the next day.
We were amazed by the generosity; in fact, we’re still amazed.
We sent the voucher to SuAnn as a surprise, and we just got word today that the voucher arrived safe and sound…and it was quite a surprise. At this point, we’ll step back from our match-making role and let the “thank you’s” happen one on one. We’ve connected Patsy and SuAnn, and I think there’s a great friendship blooming.
However, before we close out the 2011 Outer Banks T-Shirt Design Contest and focus on 2012, I’d like to wrap up with a few points…
2011 Outer Banks T-Shirt Design Contest - Ms. Patsy's Greatness
The crowning moment has finally arrived!
After months of collecting fabulous Outer Banks t-shirt designs for our t-shirt design contest, we narrowed the field down to five amazing pieces of art, and Tuesday we opened the final stage of voting on our Facebook page.
It was a 24-hour period of heated voting with two awesome designs battling it out down to the last minute of voting at midnight. And in the end, the fabulous “Mermaid” design, created by Ms. Patsy Bachus Ridlon, was crowned the victor!
I asked Patsy if there was a story behind the design, and here’s what she had to say…
Yes! I’m southern, so I always have a good story:)
I was raised in Asheville, North Carolina, and now live in the Pacific Northwest, soon to move to the coast of Oregon. Still, the Outer Banks has a feeling and life all it’s own. There is no place like it.
The first time I visited the Outer Banks, I was a kid. That was 30 years ago. We went to a local restaurant and the waitress was so beautiful she looked like she belonged on the front of a ship!
She and her family had lived there for generations. She had the most exotic green eyes, so she made me think of the mermaid and the Pirate bandana she is wearing.
The horse, turtle, fish, crab, the dolphin hidden in the wave, the little seahorse…all the wildlife, to me, is one of the most amazing and important parts of the Outer Banks.
Horses! I love the wild horses.
She is part of the ocean and the OBX, and protecting it, as the people of the Outer Banks do.
The Surfboard, energy and fun!
Thank you for having the contest, it was great. I am sooo happy to be a tiny part of this. All the designs were amazing, and I am honored to have won. Please thank your awesome staff. I read about you all every day. You’re my link to my favorite place.
Thank you!
Patsy
Awesome description.
It is amazing how much the Outer Banks can effect people. There is so much “everyday magic” on the Outer Banks. So much so, that we can be changed by it and not even realize it’s happening. I can speak from experience (as I’m sure most of y’all can as well). I grew up in Boston, but after vacationing on the Outer Banks a couple times, I knew this is where I wanted to spend every available minute. Now, here I am with my entire life built around this amazing place.
Patsy lives on the opposite side of the country – 3k miles away? – yet she stays tuned into our daily updates everyday, took the time to enter our t-shirt design contest, and created the winning design based on inspiration from her first OBX visit 30 years ago! Amazing!
Great design, and great story. Thanks so much Patsy.
This was such a fun contest! We can’t wait to see the great design on the Seaside Vacations 2012 t-shirt, and we can’t wait to do it again next year! Get your creative thinking caps on.
T-shirts will be available soon. We’ll be sure to announce it as soon as they are ready. Stay tuned!
Outer Banks T-Shirt Design Contest: "Mermaid" - Winning Design
Drum-roll please….
After months of preparation, the time has finally arrived. We have been collecting some amazing t-shirt designs over the passed few months, the t-shirt design contest closed on September 30, and we have now narrowed the field of 26 down to the TOP 5 FINALISTS!
We want to thank everyone who took part in this awesome contest. We were hoping to get some fun designs, and y’all blew us away! The designs that we received are all AMAZING.
Below are the 5 finalists, and voting will begin at midnight on Tuesday (i.e. Tuesday morning) and run for 24 hours. The voting will take place on our Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/SeasideVacationsOBX), and after the 24 hour voting period, the design with the most votes will be crowned the King/Queen of the Outer Banks T-Shirt Design Contest!
And to the victor go the spoils. The winning design will be printed on the back of the 2012 Seaside Vacations t-shirt, and the winning designer will win an Outer Banks getaway courtesy of Seaside Vacations.
Please tune into our Facebook page and vote…the more the merrier.
Without further ado, here are the top 5 finalists…
Outer Banks T-Shirt Design Contest - 5 Finalists
Please note, the above image is not the best quality and the numbers on the designs are no longer relevant. New images for each design will be uploaded to Facebook for the voting.
Let the voting begin on Tuesday!
Outer Banks Vacation IPad Giveaway
Hopefully this announcement adds a ray of sunshine to someone caught in the brutal snow piling up in the North.
At the end of 2010, we announced a promotion to include all guests that booked and confirmed their reservation with us between October 6 and December 31, 2010 in a drawing for a brand new IPad.
We got a great response with almost 500 confirmed reservations, and today is the day to announce the winner!
Thank you to all of our guests. We are looking forward to welcoming each of you to the Outer Banks. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner.
In the video, we do a live drawing, and the winner is…..
Dana Jarvis!
Congratulations Dana! We will get the IPad out to you asap.
Dana will be staying at Katherine’s Cove, a gorgeous 6 bedroom home in Duck.
Thank you for choosing Seaside Vacations.
Sincerely,
Seaside Vacations
OuterBanksVacations.com
