“Get me a story on the prize winners,” growled the Contest Editor of the Jewish Daily Bulletin’s Biggest Jewish News of the Week competition. “Here’s a list of the prize winners. Interview as many as you can.”
The reporter glanced over the names of the fifty-four winners who had been awarded a total of $600 in the first six weeks of the contest and shook his head. A Pennsylvania rabbi, a Milwaukee lawyer and a Staten Island haberdasher were only a few of the many who had received cash awards for writing the best letters on the outstanding events of the week.
A trip to Staten Island was chosen as the lesser of the three evils. A ferry ride to Staten Island on a cold winter’s morning isn’t the most conducive thing for high spirits. However, when your reporter arrived at the house of Isadore Gelmar, 61 Beach street, Stapleton, he was greeted in a manner that would thaw an iceberg.
BOTTLE PRODUCED
He found a short, loquacious and jovial old gentleman surrounded by boxes of hose and shirts. Upon learning that a Bulletin representative was calling, a bottle of liquid refreshments appeared mysteriously and the second prize winner in the Bulletin’s sixth current news competition said:
“I’ve been reading the Bulletin ever since my nephew won the twenty-five dollar prize about five weeks ago. You know, he subscribed to the Bulletin with part of the money he won. We can’t get the paper in Staten Island.
“There probably aren’t enough Jews living here for you to sell it on the newsstands. But, Irving, my nephew, used to buy it in Brooklyn. He attends Long Island University.
WAS SURPRISED AT NEWS
“I like your paper very much. It hits the spot. A paper such as yours is needed to keep in touch with Jewish affairs the world over.”
“It was the first time I had entered the contest and I was very much surprised to find that I had won a prize of ten dollars. My nephew teased me about it but when he saw that I had won he immediately sat down and wrote a letter for next week’s contest. You’ll be hearing from me again.”
City College, Long Island University, St. John’s, Columbia, Brooklyn, Yeshiva, Boston University and Cincinnati U. are some of the higher institutions of learning whose students have shared in the Jewish Daily Bulletin’s weekly cash prizes for the uotstanding news of the week.
An honor student at James Monroe, a junior at New Utrecht and a member of the James Madison Menorah Society are but three of the eighteen high school boys and girls who are proudly sporting Bulletin medals.
MORE WINNERS DUE
Tomorrow nine more names will be added to the long list of winners. One hundred dollars in cash prizes and medals will be awarded writers of the best letters on the most important news of the week.
All the winners have been greatly pleased. Naturally so. However, everybody who has entered this contest has been fascinated by this novel, interesting, and informative competition. William B. Furie, a Brooklyn young man who attends Boston University, told a reporter that he wished to express his thanks to the Contest Editor and judges for awarding him a third prize in the collegiate division.
“For the past week,” he said, “I have been spending my vacation from college with my parents in Brooklyn. While here, your check and letter were forwarded to me from Boston University. Now, before I return to school I want to thank you for the award and the letter you sent me.”
TO ENTER AGAIN
“I am sending in another entry this week with the hope that I shall merit a higher rating than last week’s special commendation. Whether it does or not—I certainly am getting a kick out of it and much of value.”
Complete details, rules and information on this current news competition will be found elsewhere in the Bulletin today. The winners of the seventh week’s contest will be announced tomorrow.
The eighth Biggest News competition is now under way and the news period for the current contest closes Friday. The ninth contest will begin in the week-end edition, Sunday, January 6.
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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.
