By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine
A favorite movie of mine is The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, based on the true story from the book of the
same name written by author, Terry Ryan. It is the story of her Mom,
a housewife, Evelyn Ryan, supported her husband and ten children as she writes
winning jingles for prizes in a variety of contests.
Evelyn is contacted by a group of other
contest-entering women, and they become friends, encouraging one another, just
like today's writing groups.
The family faced foreclosure of their home. The
children pray for their mother to win a particular contest sponsored by Dr.
Pepper. She wins and pays the mortgage on the house.
I thought of this movie when I saw a notice on Facebook
about writing 200 words to win a historic Bed and Breakfast Inn in Maine. This
was the second time the Inn had changed owners via a writing contest.
Janice Sage won the Center Lovell Inn and Restaurant in Maine
through an essay-writing contest in 1993. Now, she has decided to retire and is
conducting her own writing contest. The person who submits the best 200-word essay about why they want to own and operate the inn will become the new
owners. There is an entry fee of $125, but as most writers know, many writing
contests have entry fees. The Inn is an 1805 beauty, with an
estimated value of $900,000.
Ms. Sage anticipates 7,500 entrants. The new owner will have
to keep the inn painted white with green or black shutters, and it must remain
open to guests for at least a year. A winner will be decided by May 30,
2015 and the property will transfer within 30 days.
Get your pen out, and let's do a pretend 25 word entry to the
contest and post in the comment section. The prompt is; "Why I would like to own and operate a country inn."
Ready, get set, write.
No comments:
Post a Comment