365 days

Tourism Richmond launched an innovative campaign this week: A casting call to all bloggers, foodies, tweeps and online personalities for a gig dining out 365 days in the city.

The perks are fantastic: A year’s worth of dinners-for-two, an apartment in Richmond, a year-long gym membership – to burn off all of the noodles – and, last but not least, $50,000. Not too shabby.

Best of all, the job description basically requires the lucky blogger to engage with the community on Facebook and Twitter, to explore Richmond, take photos and eat. It’s like a paid 52-week vacation in a local city.

The information is available on the tourism Richmond’s Facebook page, and the contest runs throughout March.

Just like YVR’s search for someone to live at the airport for 80 days and 80 nights, I think the competition will garner (it already has) a lot of attention. It’s the perfect PR move: It will highlight local cuisine and rally the community together, and most of all, it does so in a cool and interactive way, with lots of multimedia and online engagement.

My love of food and burning desire to win this opportunity is only half of my reason for posting: It’s the realization that I have no idea where I’ll be a year from now. I could be on the other side of the world, travelling, or here at home wrapping up my final semester of studies before graduation. It’s the realization that 365 days is not a relatively long time, but it’s also an extremely long time to commit to staying in one place, doing one thing.

And I guess that’s the beauty of it: A year’s worth of covering Richmond will force the lucky blogger to find creative ways to highlight the community.

An ambitious project, but completely rewarding: How fantastic would it be to start every day with the goal of experiencing something new, and sharing it with others?