Young Author to Give Away $3,000, Risks Everything to Travel 48 States, Complete Novel
Written by Woodrow Landfair   
April 09, 2007
Apr 09, 2007 -- /prbuzz/ --  Young Author to Give Away $3,000, Risks Everything to Travel 48 States, Complete Novel
Landfair Traveling to 70 Cities, Searching For Award Winner

Having pawned his things, given away all but two backpacks of clothes, and terminated the lease on his apartment, Woodrow “Pack” Landfair set out on the road with nothing but a pen, a notebook, and a nation’s promise of opportunity and adventure. Landfair has announced his “Dollar and a Dream Award” as part of his nationwide motorcycle tour. The competition will present one person with a lump sum $3,000. The winner will be selected on the strength of his/her plan to use the prize money, which is funded with 100 percent of the proceeds from t-shirt sales on Landfair’s website. Ideal applicants are high school and college students nationwide but Landfair also hopes an older person with a rare passion might catch his eye.

On the road since July 2006, Landfair is riding a motorcycle through the 48 contiguous states while writing a collection of short stories and a novel about his experiences.

A 2006 University of Texas graduate with a degree in Creative Writing, Landfair is no stranger to excitement. As an eighteen year-old, Landfair, who’d signed a letter of intent to wrestle at the Naval Academy, came to Texas after a shoulder reconstruction ended his future in the sport. With a full scholarship from the Navy ROTC, Landfair was pursuing his childhood dream of becoming a Navy SEAL when he walked-on to the Longhorn baseball team for the 2003 season. As the team’s first walk-on in over a decade, Landfair climbed the ranks to become Texas’s Teammate of the Year in both 2004 and 2005 (the only player to win back-to-back Teammate of the Year Awards in the program’s 110 year history). During the 2005 season, in which Landfair and the Longhorns won an NCAA national championship, Landfair tore two discs in his spine, medically disqualifying him from entering the Navy. Not to be mired by the destruction of a dream, Landfair set his sights on a career as a writer. As always, he would do it on his own terms.

In the spring of 2006, Landfair completed the rehab on his back while working as an assistant strength coach for the University of Texas baseball team. Afterward, he planned and announced his yearlong 48 state trip. He then pawned his stereo, television, desktop computer, and even his national championship ring for the initial financing of the expedition. It was not until July, however, when a friend—former Longhorn pitcher JP Howell—gave him a car to sell, that Landfair had the money to begin.

Landfair’s budget, however, proved insufficient. After the first six months, he ran out of money and spent the next 90 days working alongside illegal immigrants in a New York City kitchen, saving his earnings for the duration of his trip. Among other places, Landfair stayed with friends and co-workers as well as in two New York City homeless shelters. It was while he was in the shelters that he was inspired to organize the “Dollar and a Dream Award.”

The contest is open to people of all ages and will award one winner with $3,000 with which to pursue his/her dream. Landfair’s vision is to give an artist the money to finance an exhibit, to give a sister the cash to pay her brother’s hospital bill, or to give another ambitious dreamer the money to quit his job and pursue a lifelong goal. Landfair will judge all entries on the nature of their worthiness as well as the applicants’ creativity and desire.

Landfair will travel through 55 cities between April 1st and July 31st while bringing his stories to 70 speaking engagements along the way. At each venue he tells another tale from the road—working with immigrants in New York City, running a homeless shelter in New Orleans, and the fateful night on the Mississippi River that inspired him to take this journey. The events are free and also feature open mics for local musicians. For a complete listing of Landfair’s tour schedule and to register for the “Dollar and a Dream Award”, visit www.woodrowlandfair.com. The entry period ends July 31st, the last date of Landfair’s nationwide tour. The winner will be announced Sept. 30th, 2007.

(www.woodrowlandfair.com)

Woodrow Landfair
Direct: (703) 402-8826
Email: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Website: www.woodrowlandfair.com
Young Author to Give Away $3,000, Risks Everything to Travel 48 States, Complete Novel

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Young Author to Give Away $3,000, Risks Everything to Travel 48 States, Complete Novel Landfair Traveling to 70 Cities, Searching For Award Winner


 
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