This is a contest with an eventual winner, and hopefully, but not guaranteed, a grand prize. The contestants, while excited to compete, wish they weren’t. The entries, visible to and voted on by the public, come after what was likely a year or more of trying to win on their own, which is often only discussed in private. Making the entries evokes emotions of hope, grief and compassion.
This is the annual “ I Believe Video Journal Project.” Now in it’s fifth year, the Sher Fertility Institute, a chain of fertility clinics with nine locations across the US, hosts this annual contest to raise awareness for infertility. The prize? A free cycle of in vitro fertilization. And considering that the average cost of one IVF cycle is $12,400, many couples consider making these videos and opening up about their infertility struggles a small price to pay for the potential prize to top all prizes: a baby.
“We’d done several rounds of IVF, and we were to the point of being out of money. It was really our last shot,” 2013 finalist Rosalinda Patlan tells the New York Times. Patlan and her husband are profiled in " HAVEABABY," a documentary-in-progress that follows the contest and some of its contestants. “We’d really kept it to ourselves, and to our core family members, but the first part of it is a popularity contest,” she says. "We had to tell everyone what we’d been through and to reach out to family and friends.”
To enter, contestants submit short videos that share their infertility stories and why they would like to be the winner. Two cycles will be awarded: one to a participant or couple that doesn’t have children from a current or prior relationship, and one who does, but is having secondary infertility.
For the first round of the contest, viewers can watch the videos and vote for their favorite, and finalists will be declared by popular vote after a week-long voting period. A group of eight panelists will narrow down the field and announce the two winners of the best holiday present ever on December 16.
You can watch the entries or submit your own by November 23 here.
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