Someone who dropped an entry form at the Chevrolet dealership in Marshalltown, Iowa, will find a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze compact car in their driveway in the near future.
The silver ice metallic Cruze 2LS, purchased by the Warren, Ohio, Tribune Chronicle as the first retail sale of the General Motors Co. Lordstown Complex-built upscale small cars, will be shipped to the town of about 26,000 in central Iowa.
The identity of the winner is being kept secret until a "prize patrol" of the newspaper owned by Ogden Newspapers Inc., which also owns the Tribune, and the local Chevrolet dealership present the car.
An estimated 75,000 entries were submitted in the contest since it was announced Sept. 15.
Warren, Ohio, Mayor Michael O'Brien drew the winner from entry forms heaped into the bed of a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck at the Diane Sauer Chevrolet dealership in downtown Warren, Ohio.
Sauer estimated her dealership collected 20,000 to 25,000 entries, most of which were dropped off at the dealership instead of mailed. Another 10,000 came from the Chevrolet dealership in Steubenville. A total of 20 Ogden newspapers participated.
O'Brien called the contest "another example of great community spirit, from workers who assemble the cars in Lordstown to the local dealer that sells the cars to the local newspaper that bought the car."
Ogden-owned newspapers and Chevrolet dealerships from Minot, N.D., to Cape Coral, Fla., and New York state participated in the contest, designed to celebrate the launch of the brand-new upscale small car built at the 4,300-worker Lordstown complex.