Alexandra from Munich, Thiago from Sao Paulo, Brian from Seattle and Sam from Lambley, Cambria, England, all have something in common.

OK, they have two things in common. They love snowboarding and they want to win the Sun Peaks I Want to be the Snow Bum Contest.

They’re among 20 finalists chosen from more than 50 entries in a contest that will have one world-class Snow Bum schussbooming to a finish line Dec. 1.

Even before a winner is announced, the web and video-based contest has achieved its goal in the eyes of resort marketers.

“It’s working out to be exactly what we were going for — world exposure,” Melanie Simmons, resort spokeswoman, said Tuesday. “We wanted quality and we got quality.”

Inspired by Best Job in the World, a global marketing campaign held earlier this year by Tourism Queensland, the resort launched the snow bum contest in October. The medium is the message in these contests with word spreading virally via the Internet.

Contestants were invited to submit written and 60-second video entries explaining why they should be chosen to spend the first three months of 2010 living at Sun Peaks, skiing or snowboarding daily, serving as a resident ambassador, and spreading the word on social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. All expenses are paid, even the shuttle from Kamloops Airport.

The invitation drew entries from all over the world, including one from Russia.

“Obviously we have at Sun Peaks a world-class resort and this is another way to tell other people about it,” Simmons said. “It’s been so much fun.”

The finalists’ entries can be viewed online at www.snowbumcanada.com. More than 18,000 votes have been cast already at the site. Those votes are among a set of criteria — including creativity, originality, on-camera presence and enthusiasm — that will decide the winner.

Judges have to decide on candidates from nine different countries, including six from Canada and one hometown hopeful from Sun Peaks. Unlike the lot of the Snow Bum, it won’t be easy.

“Oh my God, they’re phenomenal,” Simmons said. “They’re all so good.”

One industrious Sun Peaks blogger offered a contestant a job as a nanny — the resort’s daycare was recently closed to local families — should she not make the cut.

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