The newspaper may be a medium of yore, but what it lacks in informational immediacy it makes up in folksy reader-submitted contests. To wit: The New Orleans Times-Picayune is running what might be the most Louisianan competition of all time, a chance to “win your weight in shrimp.”
If you’re a resident of New Orleans (or its surrounding parishes), today is the final day you can submit an original shrimp recipe for the chance to win up to 250 pounds in shrimp. Finalists will be invited to a cook-off in June, where a panel of esteemed judges will select the winner. According to contest rules, 250 pounds of shrimp has a cash value of $1,700—slightly less than the average annual salary of a newspaper reporter.
The Times-Picayune’s Ann Maloney, who’s overseeing the contest, told me that she’s received dozens of entries so far, with many coming in at the deadline today. She said that the up-to-250 pounds of shrimp will be delivered to the winner in one shipment.
“It’s up to you to figure out what to do with it,” Maloney told The A.V. Club. “But most people in South Louisiana wouldn’t have a problem with that.”