THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411150135
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
When Tiffany Bryant found out she had won first place in the 5- to 7-year-old age category for The Citizen's recent coloring contest, she went running to her daddy when he came home from work that night and told him she had won a dog.
Whoops! That wasn't such good news to Todd Bryant, since the family already has an over-sized Labrador retriever named Bingo, an 18-month-old sister to Tiffany - and the Bryants are expecting twins in December.
Let's just say daddy felt a lot better when he learned Tiffany was talking about a stuffed dog, a St. Bernard-type like the one in the children's movie, ``Beethoven.''
Never mind that this particular dog doesn't bark or run. Tiffany likes it anyway, she told us, when she and the other first-winner in the 8-10 category, Casey Butler, came in to pick up their prizes.
When Tiffany, 5 - a lot more talkative than Casey, 9 - saw the plush animal, she hugged it and giggled. She was a less inspired by her first-place trophy, however.
``Why doesn't it have my name on it?'' she asked. ``If it's my trophy, it should have my name on it.''
Tiffany's grandma, Becky Maynard, covered her mouth to hide the smile. It got funnier when Grace Brown, our advertising manager, tried to explain.
``Well, we didn't know that you were going to win,'' Grace said. ``That's why we couldn't get your name put on it.''
Oh, dear, Grace had made a mistake here. She had written Tiffany's name on the dog's tag.
``Then why didn't you write my name on the trophy?'' Tiffany wanted to know, once she noticed the tag.
Tactfully, Grace tried to change the subject. She commented that she was impressed that Tiffany could write her own name, noting the entry blank.
``I could write my name last year,'' Tiffany said.
Precocious children. And this was one of them.
It made our judging of the coloring contest even more fun.
The contest started when Grace was looking for something to get youngsters involved in a Halloween promotion for the Citizen. She often comes up with brain-storming ideas like this, and she usually pulls them off. She put everything she has into this one.
She convinced Citizen advertisers to donate prizes, like the Beethoven stuffed animal that Tiffany won and the video ``The Nightmare Before Christmas,'' won by Casey.
And she convinced our resident artist, Larry Jones, to draw a Halloween picture appropriate for coloring. He did a super job with the witch and the little dragon and Dracula companions out for a night of trick-or-treating.
When the entries started pouring in, it was up to Grace to come up with a judging committee. Guess whom she turned to? The whole office staff. We spent a Friday lunch going over the entries.
Everybody - me from news, Sophie Moseley from circulation, Suffolk advertising manager John Ridenour, Grace and Larry - got involved in judging more than 70 entries.
The first-place winners were absolute standouts.
Casey, who actually lives in Suffolk but gets the Citizen as well as the Sun, was really creative with his entry. He added a ghost peeking out from behind a tree, a couple of pumpkins, knotholes with faces on the trees and leaves falling from the bare branches.
``This is the third contest he's won in a month,'' said Casey's mother, Peggy Parker-Butler. ``He won a poster contest through his school at McDonald's, a coloring contest at Michael's in Chesapeake. Sometimes he'll ask my advice, but usually, you can't tell him what to do. He has a mind of his own.''
A quite creative mind, apparently. Even the sneakers worn by the little vampire in the parade of tricksters were colored like something you'd see with the names of pro basketball players on them - blue, yellow, black and green.
Casey, a fourth grader at Elephant's Fork Elementary School in Suffolk, likes to draw and color, but he wants to be a pediatrician when he grows up.
``Because I like helping people,'' he said.
Tiffany's entry stood out because of her choice of colors as well as the fact that she did so well, for a 5-year-old, with staying in the lines. She also just happened to have crayons with sparkles in them.
Gee. They never had those when I was a kid.
We had the most fun with Tiffany while we were waiting for Casey to arrive. Grace, a non-stop talker herself, was trying to keep Casey involved in conversation. So, she asked about one of her favorite things: cats.
``Do you have a cat?'' Grace inquired.
``No,'' Tiffany said. ``My grandma had one, but it died. We buried it by the garage.''
``Oh, that's a good idea,'' the advertising rep commented. ``That way, if the cat gets hungry, maybe it can find a mouse in the garage.''
``How would a dead cat eat?'' Tiffany wanted to know.
If this little winner hasn't made up her mind what she wants to be when she grows up, could be there's a place for her in advertising. Got Grace, didn't she? ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GRACE BROWN
Casey Butler and Tiffany Bryant won The Citizen's coloring contest.
by CNB