Texting champ wins $50,000
Parents may want to rethink scolding their kids for texting at the dinner table, since it could win them a ton of money.
A 20-year-old college student from Cleveland State University just won the $50,000 grand prize in a national texting competition held in New York this week.
The winning text that Nathan Schwartz sent was, "Does everybody here know the alphabet? Let's text. Here it goes ... AbcDeFghiJKlmNoPQrStuvWXy & Z! Now I know my A-B-C's, next time won't you text with me?" Schwartz completed the text in 50 seconds with no mistakes.
Cell phone maker LG sponsored the competition that featured winners from regional texting competitions held all over the country. The contest also included a handful of online winners and Schwarz the winner of an MTV sponsored contest.
Schwartz said he found out about the competition while watching the MTV show Tila Tequila. At first he said he thought the competition was a joke, but after several text messages back and forth he got a message saying he had won a free trip for two to New York City for the texting championship.
Schwartz beat out two other finalists for the grand prize. Last year's winner Morgan Pozgar, 14, was eliminated in the early round of texting. She was back to defend her title and to add to the $25,000 grand prize she won in the inaugural event last year.
Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie. 
- by ScotJP July 11, 2008 3:40 AM PDT
- What kind of phone was it, full keyboard or normal keypad?
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