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Win tickets to ride world’s biggest airship near O.C.
May 13th, 2009, 5:00 am · 12 Comments · posted by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
Zeppelin Eureka flies over San Francisco. Image courtesy of Airship Ventures.
The Orange County Register is partnering with Airship Ventures on a writing contest whose winner will get one pair of free tickets for a ride on the Zeppelin Eureka after the world’s largest airship arrives in Long Beach next week.
Weather permitting, Eureka will land at Long Beach Airport on May 20 and will spend a few days taking paying customers on local sightseeing tours. On at least one of those trips, the 246-foot long airship is expected to travel over the Seal Beach-Huntington Beach area.
The winner of a Register writing contest will be awarded a pair of free tickets for a flight. We don’t expect foul weather. But we must emphasize that the tickets will be good only if Airship Ventures, operator of Eureka, decides that the local weather is safe for flight.
The tickets will go to whoever writes the best fiction story that begins with the following sentence: “Eureka rose out of a thick cloud bank over Laguna Beach, British pilot Katherine turned to her German mentor, Fritz and said….”
Some key rules:
- 1. Your story must be original and can’t be longer than 500 words long.
- 2. Your story must be emailed to Gary Robbins by 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 19. You must include your full name, hometown and phone number in your email so that we can contact the winner quickly. Eureka will be in Long Beach for less than a week. My e-mail is: grobbins@ocregister.com
- 3. Parents cannot write a story for their children.
- 4. Contest entrants must be physically able to ride on an airship.
- 5. Employees of Freedom Communications (publisher of The Register), their family members and relatives are not eligible to win the tickets.
- Click here for the Official Rules governing all Orange County Register contests.
The winner of the writing contest will be announced on the Sciencedude blog on Wednesday, May 20th, and their story will be included with the announcement.
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12 Comments
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Brian Dunning of Laguna Niguel, producer of the popular Skeptoid podcast, separates fact from fiction in his new video series, InFact. Here's his take on the upcoming movie, "2012."
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What is the age cut off?
pilgrim92651: There are no age limitations in this contest.
Do you have any ideas how long the tours are? And if you want to buy tickets how much they are for a tour
I’m not super-certain on how long the tours are. I think they’re about 1 hour. The tickets were running about $400. But the company has the right to raise or lower prices based on demand.
Where do we go to buy tickets?
Cool. I one day wish I could ride on a blimp.
Can I just write a fictional story on PEPITO?
Editor’s note: I earlier put up a post saying that there is no age limit for this contest. I was later informed by an editor that our contest rules state that you must be 13 or older to be eligible.
hey p-dubb try to do a google search on them. you should be able to find their website which I am assuming should have ticket info
…….Sciencedude this is cool……
My story has 540 words, does that mean it was disqualified?
HI there,
Thank you for giving everyone the chance to write to a very stimulating prompt.
Just wanted to let you know that I had 14 students enter your writing contest. They received the info on Saturday, and all wrote amazing stories that they could submit by Tuesday at 6:00.
Next time, I would suggest limiting the writing by a particular age group. My students stories were unbelievable. They can compete in the literary department, but not in the background knowledge that an adult can apply.
I look forward to more opportunities for my students.