What do winners of The Jewish Daily Bulletin’s Biggest Jewish of the Week Contests do with their prize money?
This question has been asked by many readers of The Bulletin and the Contest Editor has asked several of the past winners if they would tell how they spent their share of the $100 awarded weekly in cash prizes to writers of the best letters.
A Milwaukee attorney, I. B. Padway, who won the Third Biggest Jewish News of the Week Contest, donated his first prize of twenty-five dollars to a Talmud Torah. Mr. Padway wrote the following letter to the Contest Editor:
“At the outset permit me to thank you for the check in the sum of twenty-five dollars, and may I state that I have donated this sum to the Talmud Torah. I really was surprised to notice my name as the winner of one of the contest prizes.”
Mr. Padway, but one of the many readers of The Bulletin who have entered the Biggest News contest, won with his very first letter.
WINNING MISS BUYS HANDBAG
Miss Ethel Wantfus, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who was awarded a second prize of ten dollars in the collegiate division some time ago for her excellent letter, told The Bulletin reporter she was so overwhelmed by the news that she felt the irresistible urge to shoot the works.
“I saw a beautiful bag in one of the department stores that my allowance would not permit me to get. As soon as I received the prize money I went right over and shot the works. It really was thrilling. This is the first prize money that I have ever won in my life. Thank the judges for me,” she wrote.
Miss Wantfus is a student at Brooklyn College, studying for the teaching profession. And, according to our reporter, “She really has a nice taste in handbags.”
STUDENT TAKES VACATION
The energetic reporter called upon Leon Messner, graduate student at Columbia University, and discovered that Mr. Messner is using the money for a week’s vacation at an up-state winter resort.
“I had originally planned to do some college work over the Christmas vacation, what with all the work I had missed and no dough, the university library was the only place for me. However, when I learned that I had won first prize of twenty-five dollars I immediately called my fraternity brothers and learned they were going up-state. The money certainly comes in very handy and I wish to thank everybody on the judiciary board.
“You’ve got a splendid paper in The Bulletin and I hope you become the mouthpiece of American Jewry. We’ve needed something like your publication for a long, long time. The best of luck to you and thanks again.”
KEEP ON TRYING
Mr. Padway, Miss Wantfus and Mr. Messner are but three of the many winners who have shared in the $500 distributed so far to writers of the best letters on the Biggest Jewish News of the Week. There is a host of Bulletin readers who haven’t been as fortunate as the three mentioned above, but who still feel that they may win one of the prizes by persistent effort.
David Klinger, of Brooklyn, has entered the contest every week for the past five weeks and is still hoping his letter may be good enough to warrant part of the prize money. In a letter to the contest editor Mr. Klinger said: “I have been reading your informative and interesting Jewish Daily Bulletin ever since its inception as an eight-page daily. Thus far I have been a regular contributor to your contest held each week. Your contest has set minds thinking, analyzing, planning and helping all of us on Jewish problems.
“It may interest you to know that your illuminating Bulletin is gaining new readers. May it grow and become a powerful force for the good of all.”
This Biggest Jewish News of the Week Contest has rapidly become the most-talked-of competition in Jewish circles since it started six weeks ago. You too, can enter this simple, fascinating current news competition. The rules are easy. Prizes are awarded weekly. Full information on this novel news contest will be found elsewhere in the paper.
The winners of the Fifth biggest Jewish News of the Week Contest will be announced tomorrow.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
