Princess Academy contest results

Hooray! I can announce the winners of the princess academy contest.

Terah S. of Paia, Hawaii
Markie C. of New Hope, Alabama
Shannon M. of Bristow, Virginia

Congratulations, you gorgeous girls! What lovely, thoughtful, funny, perfect entries. I'm so honored to have such smart ladies as fans. It may take a few weeks to get your books to you. The grand prize winner gets a print out of rapunzel's revenge, of all the cool prizes, in addition to signed books and a phone call and a gift certificate. I wish I could say the phone call will be from George Clooney, but it'll just be me. I'm not sure when I'm supposed to do that...I guess we'll probably set up a time with your parents.

Can I say how incredibly difficult it was to choose? Bloomsbury received thousands of entries. They narrowed it down to forty for me, then I had the tough job of picking just three. I was able to get it down to fifteen without too much stress, but I'll admit that at that point, the winners were somewhat arbitrary, because all fifteen were so fabulous. I really had empathy for contest judges (it was the week after the Newbery announcements that I was doing this) and I don't think I ever want to be a judge again. So, if you entered and didn't win, just assume that you were one of the final fifteen, and it was a random typo that kept you from the gold. (Olivia T., I checked, and you were one of the final fifteen like I thought--but I'm not telling anyone else because I want you to just assume that you are.)

Here are a few of the tips to brighten your day:

After outwitting those bandits and saving your friends, plan your next adventure!
Never eat an apple to help out an old lady--because if you do you will be poisoned and no prince wants a poisoned princess (from a darling 10-year-old reader)
Be comfortable in your own skin.
Smile and laugh (the trick is for it to come as naturally as breathing)
Make sure you dance with every boy at a ball--because you never know which one is going to be your prince.
Seek the good in others.

Now go forth, young princesses, and save the world!

Comments

[Shelby]

I'm on it!

[Bohae]

Yay! Congrats to Terah, Markie, and Shannon :D And I love the apple-eating tip. :)

[Leanna]

Congrats to all the winners. Those tips are so incredibly clever and funny. :)

[Enna Isilee]

Awesome!

[Q]

Have you NEVER tried those apples? They are the best kind! The smoke and the burning sensation make the apple, in my opinion.

Congratulations, winners!

[dragonfly]

"Be comfortable in your own skin."

Perfect.

[Felicity]

Congrats everyone! I love the one about dancing with all the boys.

[Ellenboro]

I'm with Felicity.
I like the one about dancing with all the boys. But I want to dance a promenade, a waltz, a salsa (so fun), and a merengue (so easy AND so fun!).

Congratulations to you gals! The tips are great.

Ta da da daaaah... I'm on it, too.

[hwalk]

Great. It all sounds likes so much fun.

[Liesolotte]

congrats to all the winners and all those in the top fifteen...which includes my entry, of course! :-)

And let me reassure you, Shannon, that I would LOVE to recieve a phone call from you, as would any number of your fans. Of course, I might be stunned speechless by your very voice, but if you just read the first paragraph or so of the Goose Girl out loud to me I am sure I would burst forth with effusions glorifying thy greatness.

[Liesolotte]

Oh and, by the way, I made a list of great first sentences of books because I happened to feel like it and 'She was born Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she did not open her eyes for three days' was right there next to 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that any man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife.'and 'Tonight I dreamt I went to Manderley again.' and also....(*drumroll*) 'Call me Ishmael.'
It's funny because your books (especially Princess Academy, Goose Girl, and Enna Burning) are exactly the kind I always had in my head but could never transfer to paper. And only you could make long names interesting rather than ridiculous; that's always one of my shortcomings. Sorry for the long, double, rather pointless posts. It seems to be becoming a habit of mine. Today I just seem to be in worship Shannon mode.

[Liesolotte]

P.S.The sentences were all quoted from memory, so please forgive any errors I may have made.

[Reeve Xanda]

Well done to the winners! And thank you for the tips. I shall take them to heart and spread the word.

...Reeve...

[Calliope1of9]

yay for the winners! Those tips did indeed brighten my day!

[Olivia T.]

Oh, Miss Shannon, thank you so much for remembering to check for me! I'm absolutely and totally delighted! You are brilliant beyond brilliant! Once again, meeting you was the best present in the world! Congragulations, you spectacular girls who won! You deserve it all! :)

[Kelsey]

I don't know; seeing how things turned out for Snow White, maybe it's BETTER to eat the apple. I mean, otherwise the prince wouldn't have come along, and she'd have had to keep hiding among small men (and cleaning for them--what a nightmare!) for the rest of her days. At least, I'd pick a prince over that. Plus, apples are just yummy. (I think all that coffee I had today is starting to kick in.)

Tee-hee, Liesolotte. Good job with the quotes! I recognized...two of them. ;) My sisters always laugh at me when I quote (or at least attempt to quote) books. 'When Mary Lennox was sent to stay with her uncle at Misselthwaite Manor, she was the...' Aw, crud. I can't think of the rest. It's been a while. But I USED to be able to quote it! That counts, right?

Those entries are all awesome, by the way. :)

[Sylvia]

Well done to all the winners out there!! I wish I could've entered. I'm sure it was a hard job selecting them, Shannon! It was such a clever contest to think up!

[natalie]

good job

[Liesolotte]

'When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable looking child ever seen.'
That one I copied from the book. And yeah, I used to be able to quote a lot of stuff too...I had plenty of poems memorized. Not anymore though!

[Ellenboro]

I recognized all three of the quotes and then I recognized the one from "The Secret Garden." By the way... I LOVE "REBECCA"!!! It's soooooo good. As is "Pride and Prejudice" and Goose Girl, of course.

OK. I just wanted to say that. =]

[Burning]

Congrats, academy princesses!
Your tips were terrific!

"The gunman is useless." (I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak)

[Chelsea]

I recognized all of the first lines. They are some of my favorite too. Congrats all you princesses! I hope mine was one of the fifteen :D I would scream if you called me, shannon!
"In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three."

[myrna]

I know I know that quote. Is it "Howl's Moving Castle" or is it something else?

[Dr. Sallie N. Cheinsteen]

Congratulations to the winners!! Or would that be entirely fair? After all, I suppose I am a bit jealous. So is my friend. But Snow White always scared me as a kid, so I don't think I'll ever eat the poisoned apple. Really I don't. There's nothing I love better than adventures. And laughing. Pretty much everything up there. You lucky girls get a phone call from Shannon.
Okay so maybe I'm more than a bit jealous.
But I really am happy for the girls.
Really. :D
P.S. This is how computer tech. brilliant I am. I barely figured out that the symbol above is a smiley face. Talk about pathetic.

[Dr. Sallie N. Cheinsteen]

Oh. My friend doesn't like poisoned apples either. And she wishes she was in the final fifteen. hmmm... I'll have to work on her. What does it matter if she was in the final fifteen or not? Just give her a good dose of ice cream for a week or so and she'll be all right.

[Kelsey]

Oh, yeah, that's definitely Howl's Moving Castle. (It's only one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it about as many times as I've read Goose Girl.)

"The King killed my canary today." ;) This would make a really good guessing game.

[Chelsea]

Yes, that was howl's moving castle, one of my very favorite books.
"Linderwall was a large kingdom, just east of the Mountains of Morning, where philosophers were highly respected and the number five was fashionable."

[Ellenboro]

Two quotes. Try to guess.

"One arm flew gracefully outward and up like an ascending dove, her right foot, elegantly flexed, drew a wide arc on the rich carpet--and she sank slowly, deeply and utterly to the ground.... For here was homage made flesh; here between the bust of an obese Roman emperor and a small, potted palm, Rupert, Seventh Earl of Westerholme, was being offered commitment, servitude, another human being's all."

Sorry. I know it's long but I that's what I want to put to get the full effect.
K, here's the second one.

"'Oh ****! my hope--my love--my life!' broke in anguish from his lips. Then came a deep strong sob."

The asterisks are to keep it from being too easy. Sorry. =)

[Andrea]

Congrats to the winners!

[Summermoon]

Would that quote be from 'The Secret Countess', Ellenboro? I am not sure about the second one though...

Congratulations to the winners!

[Summermoon]

I've got it!! It's from Jane Eyre, right?

[Burning]

It's also known as 'A Countess Below Stairs', I do believe. Ellenboro, I happen to adore Eva Ibbotson.

[Christen]

I love the apple tip. :)

[Ellenboro]

You've got 'em, Summermoon.

And Burning, you're right as well. I adore some of Eva Ibbotson's works, my favorite being "A Countess Below Stairs."
I bought "A Song for Summer" expecting it to be like Countess-- a sweet romance with a bit of humor-- and though I got the humor and loved the sweet chemistry in the beggining, I was disappointed in the end. I just didn't want HER to spend THAT night with HIM. **wink wink**
It's still a great book but that part kind of threw me off, I guess.

[Burning]

Hey! Me, too. Almost exactly. 'Countess' is my favorite, and 'Summer' almost was, but that part just didn't suit me.

'Countess' will always be my favorite, many thanks to the adorable-ness of Anna.