In 2008, Otto Bock marks the 50th anniversary of our US branch. We are in our third generation of delivering the kinds of products and services that transform lives – in big and small ways. Otto Bock products and people have generated a lot of great stories over the years, and we’d love to hear yours!
So put pencil to paper, digits to your desktop (or even thumbs to your cell phone) and tell us a story about maintaining and restoring human independence. The best story will win a free trip to Germany for two!
When you send your story, we’ll need to know a little bit about you. In addition, you will need to complete a release so that we can share your story. Please fill out the form on this website, or download the PDF and fill in the details we need to contact you. You can fax, mail, or e-mail the form to us. If you have any questions please contact us at tellyourstory@ottobock.com.
Fax: 763-489-5211
Email: tellyourstory@ottobock.com
Mail: Otto Bock C/O Anniversary Story Competition at 2 Carlson Parkway, Suite 100, Minneapolis, MN 55447
All the stories will be judged by an Otto Bock panel on their originality, relevance, and quality and the winner will be announced in September of 2008. (The deadline for submitting a story is midnight, Central Standard Time, on September 1, 2008.)
Come on, give it a try! You may just be saying Auf Wiedersehen, to the US for a week—and Guten Tag to Germany!
Contest Details
Tips for telling your story:
The Story Topic
The story could be about how an Otto Bock product helped you (or someone you know) do something amazing—whether it was as simple as navigating your living room or as complicated as biking across the country. It could be about what a pediatric wheelchair has enabled your child to do, or it could even be about a problem that Otto Bock customer service solved for you when you were fitting a patient.
Whatever the story is, make sure it has vim and vigor! Use strong verbs and strong settings. Let details tell the tale but make sure you don’t get lost in those details. And if there’s a ‘hook’ to your story—something intriguing that may give the reader one expectation and deliver another—use it!
Story Length
Try to keep the story length under 1,000 words (about 3 double-spaced pages). And use spell check—it makes it easier for our dedicated readers to get the most out of your story.
Images
If you include images in an email attachment, make sure the images are JPEGs and that you name those images so they are easily recognized (Example: “John.Johnson1”, John.Johnson2”, etc). Please keep image file size small under 1 MB.
Video
For those sending in video, the same general elements of composition apply. Videos should be submitted as an MPEG format with a file size of 5 MB or less. Please keep video length to 5 minutes or less, and name your MPEG with you own name (Example: “John.Johnson_C-leg”, etc.).
Stories can be submitted with the form below, or attached to email as a Word document attachment. JPEG and MPEGs can only be sent via email as an attachment.
Thank you and good luck! Or, as they say in Germany, Viel Glück!