Meg's Diary

Contest Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Princess Diaries IX: Princess Mia T-Shirt Design Contest!

We were originally only going to have one winner. But some of you sent in fantastic designs that were Princess Diaries themed, though not necessarily Princess Diaries IX themed. And they were so good, we still wanted to consider them.

So we decided to add a second and third place prize as well.

So, the results:

The first prize goes to a team effort! We got lots of t-shirts that played on the infamous URL from the book, but this one was particularly good. Great job Kelli and Jenn from New Jersey! Enjoy your CafePress gift certificates and signed copies of Princess Diaries IX!

I love Mia T

The second prize goes to Huang of Taiwan! So cute! I love Fat Louie!

Sock T

The third prize goes to Taylor from North Carolina. Very clever! I personally can’t believe we never thought of this before.

Self Actualized T

You can buy any of these shirts by clicking on them. We also made some totes, mousepads and mugs.

To everyone who entered, we loved ALL your designs, and could see how hard you worked. I wanted ALL the T-shirts to win, but we had to narrow it down to just the ones we thought would have the most universal appeal (and even then, we still ended up picking 3). Judging is really hard! We’ll have more design contests in the future, so please enter again!


Portrait of the artists at work

And now, some bad news. Well, bad for me. Good for democracy:

I am not banned in South Carolina anymore.

Yes! It’s true! The representative of the school that banned my book appealed to the district committee, which opposed the school’s finding and recommended Princess on the Brink stay.

I know what you’re thinking: You’re thinking, “Yay! This is exactly how America, the home of the free, is supposed to work! Hooray for this town, and for the district committee, and for the media specialist who worked so hard to keep that book on the shelves of her library! Now kids in that school will have free and easy access to all of The Princess Diaries, with no gap where Book 8 would have been!”

And this is all true.

I know I should be saying to myself, “Remember when you were in Poland, Meg, and you met that translator who had kept Western books hidden under her bed to loan to her friends when she was a kid, even though she could have gone to JAIL for it, because under Communist rule, Western books were forbidden? There are people in this country right now who think they have the right to forbid us from reading some books, JUST LIKE THE COMMUNISTS. Is that the kind of land you want to live in? IS IT?”

And I know. I don’t want to live in a country that allows people to just go around, ripping books off shelves, telling other people what’s “safe” for them to read (assuming there is even such a thing as an “unsafe” book, which there isn’t).

But…I want to be cool!!! Like Judy Blume, and Maya Angelou, and Peter Benchley, and JD Salinger, and Madeline L’Engle, and Maureen Johnson! All of them have been banned, and being banned makes you cool! When I was a kid, I SO WANTED TO READ ANYTHING THAT GOT BANNED!

And I WAS SO CLOSE!!!! SO CLOSE TO BEING BANNED!!!!

Oh well. There’s always Airhead, in May. And Queen of Babble Gets Hitched in June. And Princess Diaries 10, next December. Not to mention Allie Finkle now and Book 2 in August (though I can’t imagine anyone wanting to ban her, but you know those Communists). I just want Book Chic to know, I am not giving back the Congratulations on Being Banned poster they sent me. Because I might get banned again!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s never to give up hope. Never.

Who knows? Another banning could be right around the corner.

Let this be an inspirational message to all of you.

And so I leave you, with this:


Uno, the first beagle ever to win of the Westminster Kennel Club Show. He never gave up. I won’t either! Good dog!

More later.

Much love,

Meg

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