Apartments.com today named a local Orlando area resident as a finalist in the fourth annual national Roommate of the Year contest. After reviewing entries from around the country and selecting 10 finalists, Apartments.com is now inviting America to weigh in on the video entry submitted by Oviedo, FL resident Charlotte O’Brien entitled Charlotte & Ivy. O’Brien’s video was entered in the Purr-fect Pet Owner category. The voting stage is open now through July 6, 2012 when the votes will be tabulated, narrowing down the competition to five fabulous roomies. From those five, one will be named the Apartments.com Roommate of the Year and win the grand prize of free rent for one year plus $10,000. The four runner-up winners will each receive $500. When casting their vote, the public is asked to judge the finalists’ videos with equal weight on originality and creativity, overall wow factor, persuasive argument and style and production. 

“Narrowing down the field to just 10 finalists was not an easy task,” states Tammy Kotula, public relations and promotions manager for Apartments.com. ”Selecting a winner will be even more difficult, so we need the American public to help weigh in by voting for who they think should be named Roommate of the Year. From across the country, we received videos featuring everything from stories about good pet owner roommates to a silent film depicting one roommate’s timeless talents. With free rent for a year plus $10,000 at stake, we know our finalists are going to be actively drumming up support from their friends and families from now until July 6.”

Meet Your Local Finalist:

The Purr-fect Pet Owner Category

This category showcases the love and fun between human and animal – a great roommate combination.

Title of Entry

Charlotte & Ivy

Description

Charlotte and her dog, Ivy, are best friends and best roommates. Charlotte is a great roommate to Ivy because she’s taught her how to play games including poker (Ivy has a great poker face), lets Ivy choose her own meals and even drive, though driving may not have been the best idea since dogs, um, can’t really drive. Ivy’s going to vote for this video so join her in saying yes to it. Submitted by Charlotte O’Brien of Oviedo, Florida.

O’Brien is vying for the grand prize and the coveted title that is currently held by Jesse McLaughlin of Arlington, VA and a security analyst at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. McLaughlin bested video entries that came in from across the country to be crowned Roommate of the Year, earning the title and the grand prize with his sports parody video entitled Roommating MVP!, which provided a play-by-play breakdown of his superior roommate abilities. 

The public can view videos and vote for their favorite roommate now through July 6, 2012 atwww.roommateoftheyear.com. Visitors to the website can vote for their favorite video once every 24 hours until the voting stage ends. Upon conclusion of the public voting stage, one grand prize and four runner-up winners will be determined—by a combination of public vote (60%) and a third-party judging panel (40%).