Janis (Scott) Haas

1978 Contest Prize / Ted Habeck

This is me on Dec. 6, 1978, receiving the grand prize from Ted Habeck in the “I’ve Never Won Anything in My Life Contest Contest.” I was 17, and my name then was Janis Scott. You could enter as often as you wanted, but on each entry you had to guess the total number of entries that would be received. I entered multiple times, and one of my entries hit it right on the nose. I believe the magic number was 40,777. My grand prize was a check for $995 and a nice stereo system. When I picked up my prize, they told me that until a couple of days beforehand I was set to be the 2nd place prize winner (which was a 10-speed bike) and someone else was going to win the grand prize, because they had counted 40,775 entries. But I think it was one of Shelley Grafman’s kids that was helping to count the entries in his room who a couple of days beforehand found 2 more entries that had fallen under his bed or somewhere, which changed the number to 40,777 and made me the winner and the other person the 2nd place winner. I hope that person never heard that story! It was such a thrill to win that contest. At 17, I thought I was rich (especially in 1978 money). Thanks again, KSHE! 🙂