J. K. Rowling Launches Next Harry Potter at Edinburgh Castle with Lucky Group of Canadian "Cub Reporters"
Raincoast Books and Bloomsbury PLC announced today that J. K. Rowling will be launching her long-awaited new book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle on July 16th and that a select group of lucky young Canadians will be on hand to participate in the historic event. Go to http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter for contest details.
(PRWEB) May 13, 2005 -- Raincoast Books and Bloomsbury PLC announced today
that J. K. Rowling will be launching her long-awaited new book, Harry Potter and
the Half-Blood Prince, in Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle on July 16th and that a
select group of lucky young Canadians will be on hand to participate in the
historic event.
On the stroke of midnight on the eve of publication on
Saturday 16th July, J. K. Rowling will read from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince the latest installment in the Harry Potter book adventure in the Great
Hall at Edinburgh Castle. Images of J. K. Rowling reading from the new work at
00.01 am on Saturday 16th July will be available for print and broadcast media
worldwide simultaneously by satellite.
Her audience of seventy aspiring
cub reporters (aged 8-16) will attend the Harry Potter Children’s Press
Conference Weekend on behalf of newspapers, and other organizations from around
the world. The cub reporters will meet J. K. Rowling who will give them each a
signed copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There will be a
photographer at the midnight event who will take a photograph of each child with
J. K. Rowling as she gives them their book. These pictures will be available to
all newspapers (national and international) via satellite that night. The cub
reporters will then have the weekend to read the book in a specially created
Reading Room at Edinburgh Castle before attending the Children’s Press
Conference on Sunday 17th July to question J. K. Rowling about the new book.
Young Canadians (aged 8-16) will have ample opportunity to enter to win
one of the coveted spots in Scotland in the weeks to come.
Raincoast
Books will launch an online contest June 1st in partnership with independent
bookstores and other retailers across Canada to select a Canadian cub reporter
who, along with a guardian or parent, will travel to Edinburgh for the ultimate
Harry Potter fan’s dream holiday.
The grand prize includes return
economy air fare for two from the nearest international airport to the winner’s
home, 4 nights accommodation, airport and hotel transfers, and 2 passes to the
Harry Potter Launch Weekend event (approx. value $5000 Cdn.)
The online
contest begins June 1st and will close on June 16th (Contest Period) and the
winner will be announced on June 21st (the second anniversary of the release of
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Although no purchase will be
necessary, entrants will need a special Harry Potter password to enter,
obtainable on (a) special postcards that will be available without charge at
participating independent bookstores and other retailers, and (b) online at http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter.
All valid
entries submitted between June 1st and June 16th at http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter will be entered to win,
including residents of Quebec.
Harry Potter Contest posters and password
postcards will be shipped to independent bookstores and other retailers across
Canada by the end of May to launch the online contest.
Visit your local
bookstore on June 1st and then go online to enter to win! The selected entrant
will be required to correctly answer a mathematical skill testing question in
order to win. The odds of winning will depend on the number of eligible entries
received during the Contest Period.
Indigo Books and Music and The Globe
and Mail will be running separate but coordinated national competitions to
select two other cub reporters and guardians/parents who will travel to
Edinburgh Castle, Scotland in July. A select group of newspapers and other
organizations from around the world will also run competitions starting May 14th
and running through July 1st to select their cub reporter.
For more
information regarding the Raincoast Books publicity and marketing campaign,
please contact:
Jamie Broadhurst
Director of Marketing
Raincoast
Books
604-323-7124
e-mail protected from spam bots
For more details
and complete rules and regulations for the Raincoast Harry Potter Weekend
Sweepstakes please go to: www.raincoast.com/harrypotter
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb240119.htm