Each year during the Dan Patch Awards banquet, the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) hosts a raffle to help raise funds to support the Clyde Hirt Journalism Workshop for college students.
This year’s format has been changed and will offer what could be its biggest prize ever. It will also be the first time that ticket sales will not be limited only to those attending banquet.
This fundraiser is a straight 50/50 raffle. Tickets are $25 each and sales are limited to only 400 numbered tickets. If all the tickets are sold, one winner will receive $5,000 cash. If less than 400 tickets are sold, one winner will receive half of the total sales. This year the Harness Racing Congress is being held the same weekend as the Dan Patch Awards Banquet and tickets will be on sale during the entire four days. With an anticipated strong attendance to this event, the limited amount of tickets available should likely sell out.
For the first time ever, we are making this raffle available to everyone, even if you are not planning on being in Ft. Lauderdale from February 28 through March 4. If you would like to purchase a chance to win $5,000 while helping educate the next generation of harness racing media professionals, you can do so by clicking this link, filling out the form and mailing it back to us with your check.
Presale will only be available until Saturday, February 23, 2013. After that, tickets will only be able to be purchased at the Congress and Banquet. The winner is not required to be in attendance for the drawing on March 3, 2013. Should the winner not be present he or she will be contacted by telephone that night.
The Clyde Hirt Journalism Workshop is sponsored by the U.S. Harness Writers Association and Meadowlands Racetrack. It is held in conjunction with harness racing's most prestigious race (the Hambletonian) and offers college students a chance to learn from journalism professionals while covering a major sporting event. Students interact with a variety of sports professionals, write race previews and results stories for daily newspapers and news websites and attend workshop sessions with experts from print, broadcasting, public relations and other media. All funds raised help to offset the expense of running the program which includes ground transportation, hotel accommodations and meals for the students during the four day workshop that runs from Wednesday through Hambletonian Saturday.
(USHWA)