United Announces Winner of 2012 "Destino: Latinoamerica" Video Contest

CHICAGO, Nov. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines today announced the winner of its "Destino: Latinoamerica" video contest for Hispanic college students, part of United's support of the Adelante! U.S. Education Leadership Fund.  Visitors to Adelante!'s Facebook page selected the winning video from among four finalists.

Geovanna Chavez, 18, of Brooklyn, N.Y., a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering at Polytechnic Institute of New York University, won first place with her video showcasing five reasons to visit Ecuador. She recorded the voiceover in the form of an original poem. Chavez's video and those of the other finalists are posted on the Adelante! YouTube page at www.youtube.com/user/AdelanteFund. 

"This video contest was special to me since it gave me an opportunity to showcase Ecuador, my family's native country," said Chavez.  "It also allowed me to add a poetic perspective on this country I love so much."

Participants were required to produce a short video highlighting five reasons to visit one of the 66 destinations in the 25 Latin American and Caribbean countries to which United flies. A panel of judges from United and Adelante! selected the four finalist videos from among the submissions, which were posted on Adelante!'s Facebook page for public voting.  

Chavez won six tickets for travel to any United destination in the continental U.S., Mexico, Central America or the Caribbean.  She plans to use her tickets to visit the Dominican Republic.

"This year's 'Destino' participants not only demonstrated great passion for Latin America but also presented very compelling reasons to visit the countries they highlighted – Ecuador, Argentina, and Colombia – and they did so in very creative ways," said Maria Cristina Osorio, United's director of public relations for Latin America and the U.S. Latino market. 

"The enthusiasm and support for the contest and for Adelante! on Facebook were great," said Jay Zambrano, executive director, Adelante!  "We're gratified that so many young Latinos have an appreciation for the cultures, histories, and countries of Latin America."

Other finalists were Nataly Cajamarca of Miami, a student at Florida International University, who produced a video on Colombia; Lawrence Barajas of Houston, a student at the University of Houston, whose video also focused on Colombia; and Rosalyn Jimenez of Las Vegas, a student at College of Southern Nevada, who featured Argentina. 

United also is providing tickets for 16 Adelante! scholarship winners to attend the organization's Leadership Institute in San Antonio in October. This is the fourth year that United has sponsored Adelante!

About Adelante!

The Adelante! U. S. Education Leadership Fund is a national non-profit based in San Antonio, Texas, established to support a critical piece of Latino college students' educational experiences, provide them with valuable insights early in their undergraduate journey, and create a strong pipeline of talent for Corporate America. Since its inception, Adelante! has strived to become a national leader in providing leadership development opportunities for students through scholarship, internships, and leadership development programs. To date, Adelante! has awarded more than $1.5 million dollars in scholarships to undergraduate students across the nation.  Adelante!'s mission is to inspire the best and the brightest Latino students to graduate and lead through scholarships, internships, and leadership development.   Visit www.adelantefund.org for more information.

About United

United Airlines and United Express operate an average of 5,557 flights a day to 378 airports on six continents from our hubs in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. In 2011, United carried more traffic than any other airline in the world, and operated more than two million flights carrying 142 million passengers. United is upgrading its cabins with more flat-bed seats in first and business class and more extra-legroom economy-class seating than any other airline in North America. United now has 180 airplanes featuring DIRECTV®, offering customers more live television access than any other airline in the world. United operates nearly 700 mainline aircraft and has orders for more than 270 new aircraft deliveries through 2022, including 25 Airbus A350XWBs and 100 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft. United took delivery of the first two of five new Dreamliners it expects to receive this year; in total, United has ordered 50 of the aircraft. United was rated the world's most admired airline on FORTUNE magazine's 2012 airline-industry list of the World's Most Admired Companies. Readers of Global Traveler magazine have voted United's MileagePlus program the best frequent flyer program for eight consecutive years. United is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 27 member airlines. More than 85,000 United employees reside in every U.S. state and in countries around the world. For more information, visit united.com or follow United on Twitter and Facebook. The common stock of United's parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the NYSE under the symbol UAL.

SOURCE United Continental Holdings, Inc.