J.K. Rowling’s Tales of Beedle Bard Contest

You could win a weekend with J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle Bard.  That’s the book that J.K. Rowling wrote as a complement to the Harry Potter series, but rather than publishing it, she handwrote just seven copies.  She presented six of those copies to personal acquaintances who helped her throughout her life and career.  The seventh copy was auctioned off with earnings going to J.K. Rowling’s charity, The Children’s Voice. 

Amazon.com was the winner of the auction paying approximately $4 million, and now they are sponsoring a contest that will give a lucky winner and a guest the chance to spend the weekend with that copy of The Tales of Beedle Bard.

The contest is called the Beedle the Bard Ballad Writing Contest, and it’s open to anyone age 13 or older in 24 countries.  To enter, you just have to fill out the entry form on Amazon.com and answer (in 100 words or less) one of the following questions:

• What songs do wizards use to celebrate birthdays?
• What sports do wizards play besides Quidditch?
• What have you learned from the Harry Potter series that you use in everyday life?

Submissions must be in English and can be submitted until 11:59 p.m. PDT on April 22, 2008.  Amazon.com will select 10 semi-finalists from two age group categories (13-18 and 18+).  Then Amazon.com customers will vote for their favorites to determine the two finalists (each will win a $1,000 Amazon.com gift certificate) and the ultimate Grand Prize winner. 

The Grand Prize winner will be announced on May 22, 2008, and that person will fly with a guest to London, England for two nights (air fare, lodging and an expense allowance are included).

Sounds like an incredibly prize!  You can follow the link to get all the details and to enter to win a weekend with The Tales of Beedle Bard (scroll to the bottom of that page to read the official contest rules).

Good luck!