Winner Announced! Record a Screencast, Make $1,000

The regulars on Nettuts+ will be well aware of our popular weekly video tutorials, which provide the visual learners among us with a more hands-on approach to coding. I’d like to find a new talented developer and educator to help us out on Nettuts+ each week or so! And to jumpstart this search, I’ve got a thousand dollars to hand out!

Update: Winner Announced!

Congratulations to Christopher Roach for winning the competition, thanks to his excellent introduction to Node.js. Not only was his pacing pitch perfect, but both the quality and subject matter were a perfect fit for Nettuts+. Watch the video here.

But – there were a surprising number of excellent submissions to the competition. If authors are interested, I can purchase many of these off of you guys, and post them here on Nettuts+. I’ll be in touch soon to discuss, if yours was chosen for purchasing. Thanks again to all who entered, and amazing jobs — this was a tough decision!

How’s it Work?

The process is simple enough for you, John Q reader. Simply record a video tutorial on any subject that we cover on Nettuts+. That includes, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, and HTML.

You’ll enter this competition if:

1. You enjoy teaching, and more importantly, have the heart of a teacher.
2. You can form a complete sentence without throwing two “umms” into the mix!
3. You’d like to have a larger presence on Nettuts+ as a paid author. In doing so, you’ll be helping to educate hundreds of thousands of readers.

But I’ve Never Recorded a Screencast Before…

Well that’s okay; that part is pretty easy, once you learn how to use the tools. I recommend using Camtasia Studio (PC and Mac) or Screenflow (Mac only) to record your video. While there are free screencasting tools available around the web, you tend to get what you pay for.

Learn how I personally create screencasts.

Screencasting Params

Try to adhere as closely as possible to the following recording parameters:

• Resize the resolution of your monitor to around 1280×720 before recording.
• Export at these exact dimensions.
• Your video must be a minimum of 15 minutes long.
• Audio quality is important; there shouldn’t be any hiss or pops. Consider using a condenser USB microphone, if you have one. If not, I highly recommend investing in an $80 Blue Snowball. If you have plans to submit tutorials and videos to Nettuts+, the cost is worth the effort, and might possibly be reimbursable from us! Regardless of whether you win, if the final product of your submission is well done, we’ll cover the cost!
• It’s okay if you make occasional mistakes when recording your screencasts. People enjoy watching your debugging process. That said, use your best judgment, and try not to waste the viewer’s time.

Choosing the Winner

While only one person will win the $1,000 prize, that doesn’t mean that you won’t profit from your submission! If your screencast is usable on Nettuts+, we’ll pay you the standard author rate!

You’re probably thinking that the competition will be too high. Not true! I’ll guarantee you right now that we’ll receive less than 15 legitimate submissions to this competition! If you speak well, you have an amazing chance of winning!

Even better, if you are chosen as the winner, you’ll be invited to become a Staff Author on Nettuts+!

Ready…Set…

You have between now and March 22nd, EST, to submit your item. Please note that existing and past authors are not eligible to participate in this competition. Submissions can be sent to jeffrey[at]envato.com.

Get recording, and feel free to ask any questions that you might have in the comments. Good luck!