The Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF) and sustaining sponsor FIM Group have announced the winners of the 2011 TCFF Bumper Contest. Congratulations go to John Paul Morris with “Big Light” as the $1,000 first prize winner.

Jake Wallach took the second prize of $500 with “The Film Festival Network.”

The third prize winner of $250 goes to Alton Bud Solem with “In a World.”

Three honorable mentions were awarded to Todd Gillissie for “Restated,” Lesley Tye and Ellyn Church for “Traverse City,” and Joe Carter for “Green Acres.” They will receive $100 each.

This year’s contest challenge theme was to create movie trailer parodies set in Traverse City or highlighting the Traverse City Film Festival. The contest winners were selected by a group of judges from FIM Group and the film festival.

In addition to the cash prize, the winning film bumpers will be shown on the big screen before feature films during the festival. The top prize winner will premiere tonight at the Opening Night films.

“All submissions were clever and entertaining in their own way. We got a large number of submissions, many more than last year,” says Film Intern Josh Carter.

The contest winners will be awarded their prize checks during the Awards Ceremony on Saturday, July 30. The Awards Ceremony will be held in the historic State Theatre at 6 pm.

The winning bumpers will also be showcased on the TCFF web site with links to the short films on YouTube, should the winners choose to upload them for public viewing.