sfTravel, the San Francisco review guide, has announced the top winners of the San Francisco Video Contest after judging an impressive field of entries. The 2011 contest to support emerging talent in film captured the San Francisco experience for communities across Youtube and Facebook. Congratulations to our incredible field of 2011 winners who will receive both cash prizes and global exposure for their videos on sfTravel.com.

Nick Ashton, marketing director of sfTravel said, "The energy and passion behind every video in our contest demonstrated the love that visitors around the globe have for San Francisco. Choosing the final set of winners was a challenging task based on the high quality of each film's production values."

First Prize winner, Daniel Treanor of Kauai, tells the story of a group of friends' journey to reach the Treasure Island Music Festival. The psychedelic city scenes are narrated behind pulsating beats of a remake of the classic 1967 song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" from John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas. This song is known for bringing millions of young people to San Francisco during the 1960's. The scenes of the group visiting classic neighborhoods including Haight Street, City Hall / Civic Center, and Golden Gate Bridge are well matched to beats and energy. The video's climax features Treasure Island's huge festival of DJ's, beats, dancing and exhilaration in October 2010.

Runner-up, John Leonard, is an architecture student at Kansas State University. John's video is a moving compilation of San Francisco's architecture and sites shot during the school's Spring Break in 2011. John's San Francisco visit hit some of the best sites including his arrival on the SFO BART train, aquariums, shopping, Coit Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Lombard Crooked Street. This video also pairs textures of San Francisco's most beautiful buildings with Asian flute and choral music flowing to the excitement of the City. The video is a great introspective to the true look and feel of San Francisco's beauty through nature, plants, animals and architecture.

Runner-up, Alison Lasley of Sonoma, Calif., "wanted to show the amazingness of San Francisco and how cool it is. I love San Francisco -- the people, environment, and city vibes...." Alison's video blends the architecture and textures of the city with a trance music that builds to the excitement of a San Francisco visit. Including special effects scenes that miniaturize traffic / cars and a moving sunrise to sunset time-lapse, the video features beautiful scenes of San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art sfMOMA.

All three winning San Francisco videos plus full contest details and rules are available online.

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