Roommate of the Year

Sophomore Keaton Davis wins title in first-ever contest from Apartments.com

By Russell Guerrero ’83

Sophomore Keaton Davis in Trinity's Studio A, where he sharpened his production skills.

Keaton first heard about the contest from his mother after he returned home for the summer from his first year at Trinity. Apartments.com invited people to submit videos no longer than two minutes on why they should be considered the best roommate of the year.  The winner would receive up to $12,000 to pay for a year’s rent plus $10,000 in prize money.

Keaton found the contest appealing.  He has been making videos since he was a freshman in high school and has honed his production skills by working for Tiger TV. He is also planning to major in communication at Trinity. 

First he needed to get some much needed equipment.  “I convinced my parents to buy me a video camera,” he said, adding that he told them the new camera would give him a better chance of winning. After receiving assurances that she would be paid back after he won, Keaton’s mother bought him a $1,000 camera.

Keaton decided to produce an original music video. He worked on the song and lyrics for about a week before he began shooting the video at his home with the help of two friends.

In mid-June, Keaton learned that his video was among the top 15 entrees for the grand prize.  At that point, the submissions would be vetted by a judging panel and be voted on by the public. Keaton started a campaign for his project by lobbying for votes on Facebook and other social media sites. He even went around his neighborhood passing out fliers asking for support.

He also made his first TV appearance when Apartments.com asked him to appear with another semi-finalist on a Philadelphia station to talk about the contest.

In July, he learned his work paid off.  He made it into the second round with four other finalists. More voting ensued.

In August, just as he was returning to Trinity, Keaton received call from Apartments.com. They wanted him to appear on the Philadelphia TV station again.  He returned to the studio and was expecting to talk about how exciting it was to be a finalist, when he learned on live TV that he won the contest. “It was so unexpected,” he said. “They had music playing and gave me an oversized check for $22,000.”

Afterwards Keaton, still in a state of shock, took his oversized check and walked back to his hotel room five blocks away. The first thing Keaton did with his prize money was to repay his mother for the camera she bought earlier in the summer. 

While winning the prize money was great, Keaton said he valued the boost to his video career just as much.  He appreciated the TV experience he received and he hopes it will help him land an internship next summer.

You can see Keaton’s winning music video at: http://roommateoftheyear.shycast.com/submission/show/132/.

© 2009 Trinity University