I’m man enough to admit I’m not a speedy texter. Maybe it’s because I didn’t start until I was in my 30s, or the fact that I don’t do it very often — or, well, both of those reasons. I’m convinced that’s why I wasn’t in New York City, competing against the top of the texting heap at the 2010 LG US National Texting Championship.
Brianna Hendrickson, 13 (at right, holding the trophy), on the other hand, was up for the challenge and took home the $50,000 prize as the best texter. Now she’ll compete in the LG Text For Good Challenge in an upcoming appearance on live TV, where she’ll have the chance to win another 50 large for herself, and have LG donate $50,000 to her chosen charity, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.
The 13-year-old from Brooklyn, who averages a whopping 7,000 texts a month, typed the phrase Old McDonald had a farm, Ei, ei, oh! And on this farm he had a champ. W/a txtr here, and BFF there. Here a text, there a text, erywhere a text-text!, sans errors, in 60 seconds to claim the championship. I could’ve sworn “everywhere” was spelled with a “v.” Hmm…
Hendrickson has wrestled the crown from Kate Moore, who returned to defend her title. Moore was the most thumbtastic of all in 2009, but one number the 15-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, does have on Hendrickson is that she reportedly averages about 14,000 texts sent per month. Ah, the life of a high school student.
This year, the fourth annual competition took place over four days and, according to an LG press release, tested each player’s “texting speed, accuracy and dexterity through a variety of thumb numbing challenges.” As this CNN article notes, the preliminary competition included “on-site texting challenges at concerts, text alerts on TV shows or texting from online tournaments,” while the finalists endured “blindfolds, complex phrases and marathon texting during the event.” OK, maybe it’s best that I didn’t compete; I’m getting carpal tunnel just reading that.
Not only will Hendrickson be appearing on live TV in the near future to try and win more money for her and Komen for the Cure, but she’s also secured a spot (along with fellow contestant Angel Conlon) to represent the United States in the 2011 LG Mobile World Cup, featuring texters from around the world. We at Tonic wish Hendrickson the best of luck in her upcoming competitions.
Photo credit: LG Mobile Phones.