One Moment, Please… A puzzling winner

Since December 30, 2019, the Journal office has received a flurry of entries submitted for the 2019 Cabin Fever Word Search Puzzle Book contest.

For our last issue of the decade and of 2019, we published our first-ever word search puzzle book.  For this contest, all participants who submitted a completed and accurate puzzle (that appeared on the back page of the puzzle book) would be entered into a drawing for $100.  The drawing was scheduled for 3 p.m. on Tuesday, January 14, 2020. 

We had no idea there were so many people who enjoyed doing word search puzzles.

In total, we received 1,114 puzzle entries for this contest.  Your odds of winning this contest are still better than winning the lottery!

Every day for the past couple weeks, our mailbox has been stuffed full with entries.  And, our front door has been so busy with people bringing their contest entries to our office that the door knob actually broke off one day.  That door knob may have had a pre-existing conditions, but the puzzle entries certainly tested its functional limits.

And, while the majority of entries included only the required back page, there were many participants who submitted the entire completed puzzle book.  These overachievers finished all 31 puzzles.  They found 632 words in the puzzle book before submitting their entry.  Amazing!

This contest also unexpectedly provided us with some feedback.  Here are a few of the notes we received with entries that were submitted.

“This was fun!  Thank you for including this!  Happy New Year!”

“I enjoyed doing ALL the word find puzzles!  Thank you for putting them in your last Journal of 2019.  I also enjoy reading the Journal every week!”

“This was fun!  Thank your advertisers for this page of fun.  Even if I don’t win it will help pass many a winter evening.  I don’t have a computer, so I can enter this one.  Also, I always enjoy the Journal.  Happy New Year to you all!”

“Fillmore County Journal ~ I want to say Thank You for the December 30 Journal!  My husband has a traumatic brain injury after being hit by a car 13 years ago.  He has worked each day to re-learn everything.  One thing he does is Word Search puzzles, so when the Journal arrived it was like ‘Christmas morning’ to him.  Again, thanks so very much.”

Thanks to all of our readers who participated in this contest.

We’d definitely like to thank all of the businesses who supported our first ever Cabin Fever Word Search Puzzle Book contest.  Without their involvement and support, this contest would not have been possible.

We will definitely publish another word search puzzle book and conduct a similar contest in the future.

I have to say that word search puzzles can be addicting.  My wife and I often play cribbage at the kitchen table after supper.  But for a number of nights, we’d sit at the table finishing these word search puzzles.  I recall struggling to find one word in a puzzle, thinking it probably wasn’t included.  I kept searching for longer than I’d like to admit, and I finally found it.  But, you can’t start a word search puzzle and not finish it.  Isn’t it great to have a reason to step away from technology (i.e. smartphones) and challenge your brain?

For those of you who’d like to know who won the $100 prize, check out the word search below.

The answer is in the puzzle.