Students Voting to Win a Free High School Prom

Online, February 12, 2010 (Newswire.com) - High school students are doing more than homework on school computers these days. Look closely and you may see juniors and seniors at thousands of schools nationwide voting online in hopes of winning a free prom for their school in Stumps Proms Across America Contest.

This is the second year that Stumps Prom & Party has run the contest - www.stumpsparty.com/freeprom. Fifty winning schools, one from each of the 50 states, will each receive a $1,000 Stumps gift certificate. Over $65,000 in prizes will be awarded including three grand prizes. A complete high school prom will go to the top vote getters which include a $5,000 Stumps gift certificate, DJ expenses paid up to $1,000 and royalty supplies for the entire prom court.

With 30 days to go, over 3,000,000 votes have been tallied for competing schools. "Students have come up with creative ways to get the word out about voting to classmates and rally the community to help their school win," notes Keith Bansemer, Director of Internet Marketing at Stumps. "Through web searches, Facebook and Twitter, we're hearing daily about the unique strategies schools are using to get the most votes."

Some of the more creative vote gathering ideas include contacting local newspapers. The Norwich Bulletin is printing articles tracking voting results of thirteen Connecticut schools where East Hampton High School is leading.

Ripley Central High School in New York has set up voting sessions in the computer lab according to posts placed on the Stumps Facebook Fan page by parents and students.

Texas schools Alief Hastings and Alief Taylor in Houston have raced up to the top of the vote leader board in just a couple of weeks. Taylor's principal tells students daily in the hall to vote when they can rallying the Lions to earn bragging rights by defeating the cross-town rival Bears. Hastings' principal has countered with public address announcements four times a day.

Even one of last year's winners, Buckhannon-Upshur High School, is making a run at voting again by involving local radio, television and print media. This year's competition is a bit tough in West Virginia with six schools ranking ahead of the Buccaneers and Preston High School in Kingwood in the lead.

"Add in newsletters mailed to parents, print flyers taped to computers, emails sent to alumni and students typing each other texts and you have whole communities involved in trying to win a free prom for their school," says Bansemer. Last week, the Stumps web site registered over 1,200,000 contest votes. Voting ends March 15, 2010 with all prizes awarded by the end of the month.

About Stumps Prom & Party:
Stumps has been America's favorite for prom, event and party supplies since 1926. From coast to coast, Stumps has played a pivotal role in transforming millions of special events from ordinary to extraordinary. When Stumps introduced the first memory book and the first decorations for prom 84 years ago, who would have imagined what prom would ultimately become! Visit www.StumpsParty.com.