'Great Bear's Got Talent' Contest Launches on Facebook

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 30, 2012) - A new talent contest called 'Great Bear's Got Talent' just launched on Facebook, challenging applicants from British Columbia, Canada and around the world to create the most "artful and stirring homage" to the Great Bear Rainforest.

The tribute - be it in song, dance, painting, animation, or any other art form - that generates the most Facebook votes, and gets the seal of approval from a team of judges, wins a two-person trip from Vancouver to the Kitasoo-Xai'Xais First Nations owned and operated Spirit Bear Lodge, in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest.

"To deliver a stirring tribute, we believe the applicants will have to care deeply about the wild, magical place that is Great Bear Rainforest and will want to see the region safeguarded as much as we do," said Jens Wieting, forest campaigner with Sierra Club BC, a co-host of the contest with ForestEthics Solutions and Greenpeace, the environmental groups implementing the Great Bear Rainforest agreements. "Completing the Great Bear Rainforest conservation initiative is about 'the art of the possible' and this contest carries that same theme."

The five-day trip donated by Spirit Bear Lodge - www.spiritbear.com - includes return airfare from Vancouver, bear viewing, including a one-day Spirit Bear excursion, a cultural tour, optional kayaking, full accommodation and all meals.

"I'm really pleased to support this important campaign that brings more attention to this incredibly special and complex ecosystem of the Great Bear Rainforest," said Tim McGrady, the general manager of Spirit Bear Lodge. "At Spirit Bear Lodge, we're proud of the contribution we're making to the development of a viable conservation economy in the region that protects these resources while also showcasing them to the world."

The talent contest is being held by www.takeitTaller.ca, a growing social media campaign with the goal of seeing the agreements to safeguard the Great Bear Rainforest fully implemented by March 2013. The agreements were announced six years ago and remain unfinished.

All other information about the contest - open to the first 1000 applicants - can be found at http://on.fb.me/GBtalent.