Heritage Announces $5,000 Numismatic Writing Contest Winner

Dallas, Texas: Pennsylvania numismatist Chris Pilliod has won the $5,000 Grand Prize in the writing contest sponsored by Heritage for articles posted on their www.HeritageCoin.com website. Chris' winning submission on "The Forgotten Coin of the SS Central America" was judged the most popular submission on the website, out of the hundreds of articles posted, and was also rated the highest by the many web visitors.

"Picking a winner," noted Heritage Co-Chairman Jim Halperin, "was exceptionally hard because the quality of the material has been outstanding. It is likely that left to our own opinions, we never could have chosen just one article to honor with the grand prize. But ultimately, we knew we would go to the database to impartially calculate the most popular article." Heritage's contest started last September when Heritage began accepting articles for inclusion in a special contest section on the HeritageCoin.com web site. Heritage's registered members were invited to read and rate each article for selection as the Grand Prize winner. "Now, almost a year later, and with hundreds of submissions read and enjoyed by tens of thousands of numismatists worldwide, we couldn't be more pleased with the outcome of this contest," concluded Halperin.

Chris' passion for coins is well founded. Relating his numismatic background, Chris notes that "with my father's guidance, I began collecting Lincoln and Indian cents in 1965 at the age of 8 in our hometown of Swanton, Ohio." Chris went on to graduate with honors, receiving a degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Chris has been writing as a hobby for many years, and has been published primarily in specialty club journals. When told that he had won the contest, Chris responded "It is certainly unexpected and I haven't been this excited since I won the local Punt, Pass and Kick Contest back in Swanton in 1967."

Chris went on to say, "I would like to thank Heritage for developing their website for numismatic writing. I believe it is the first of its kind." In return, Heritage would like to thank all of the authors who contributed to this unique collection of numismatic material. They are all winners in our eyes.

Chris Pilliod's "The Forgotten Coin of the SS Central America" can be found at:
http://www.heritagecoin.com/Features/NumisArticles/article.asp?id=114

Sign up for a free membership and read all the articles at:
http://www.heritagecoin.com/Features/NumisArticles/index.asp