When we first announced our Jonas Brothers contest, asking readers to write in why they should review the wildly popular tween trio's upcoming Raleigh concert for the paper, I thought reader response would be modest. Our prize was but a single pair of tickets and the solicitation didn't get prominent play. Entries were due just four days later, so I figured on 40 or 50 entries from the immediate vicinity.
Instead, 10 times that many people entered. More than 400 entries came in before deadline (plus a bunch more afterward), from all over America and beyond. Not just Canada, but Darfur, Australia, Malayisia. Some of the entries were funny, some were moving, some deeply disturbing and at least one had me wondering if I ought to alert Child Protective Services. The overwhelming majority had a tone just short of hysterical. Whatever you think of their music -- and I'd hardly call myself a fan -- the Jonas Brothers' fan fervor is impressive.
In any event, we have our winner: 16-year-old Katia Martinez of Cary. You can read her winning submission, plus the runners-up and honorable-mentions in Friday's What's Up section. The winner's review of Wednesday night's concert will run in the paper on Sunday, Aug. 3.
And before anyone else asks, no, we don't have any more tickets (or backstage passes) to give away.
