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Winner of Houghton Mifflin Contest
Houghton Mifflin

Houghton Mifflin Company, publishers of J.R.R. Tolkien's complete works in the United States since 1938 and New Line Cinema, the producers of a forthcoming The Lord of the Rings feature film trilogy currently in production under Peter Jackson's direction, today announced the winner of their 'Win a Trip to Middle-Earth' Sweepstakes. Christopher Willis of Narragansett, Rhode Island has won the trip for two to New Zealand for a special, behind-the-scenes visit to The Lord of the Rings movie set. The prize includes round-trip air travel, accommodations, as well as $1,000 spending money.

A school psychologist at the Newport County Regional Special Education Program and a huge fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, winner Christopher Willis says, 'I read the trilogy twenty-five years ago as a young man. Its fantasy was a great escape from reality.' Willis's teenage son and wife are also Tolkien fans. Discovering that he was the winner of a contest, which he had entered at his local Walden books, Willis describes his reaction, 'It was like Christmas. The fedex [notification] came on Christmas Eve. It was the best thing that happened to me that week!'

The books in The Lord of the Rings are The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. New Line's first movie in the trilogy is currently scheduled for release in Christmas 2001.

For more information, please contact:

Carolyn Sawyer, (212)420-5897 or carolyn_sawyer@hmco.com