A contest first: No one 'Beat Beifuss'
Let's face it: None -- yes, that's right, none -- of you readers deserve a "Beat Beifuss at the Oscars" prize.
See, the contest is called "Beat Beifuss," not "Tie Beifuss." And in 2009, nobody "Beat Beifuss."
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See, Beifuss was perfect: For the first time in the 13 years of the contest, Beifuss -- to continue the Herentonesque third-person self-references -- accurately predicted every winner in the contest's 10 Academy Awards categories. (And don't think he wasn't sweating the Mickey Rourke-Sean Penn nail-biter.)
Therefore, it was impossible to beat Beifuss. But tying Beifuss -- that's another story.
In fact, maybe Beifuss should quit bragging, because guessing the 10 winners apparently was not a task that required Einsteinian brain power: A total of 52 of the 1,362 readers who participated in the contest equaled his perfect score by correctly picking the Oscar winners in the categories of Best Picture ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Actor (Sean Penn), Actress (Kate Winslet), Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger), Supporting Actress (Penélope Cruz), Director (Danny Boyle for "Slumdog"), Original Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black for "Milk"), Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy for "Slumdog"), Song ("Jai Ho" from "Slumdog") and Animated Film ("WALL-E").
In comparison, last year, only two of 1,203 participants guessed all 10 winners.
Still, what fun is a contest without winners? And what is The Commercial Appeal going to do with 200 Malco theater tickets if not give them away to 10 winners, as usual?
So we decided to draw names of 10 winners this year from the group of 52 that tied Beifuss. And those winners -- each of whom will receive 20 free Malco movie tickets -- are:
Robin Ballard of West Memphis.
Cindy Chang of Germantown.
Ryan Emfinger of Germantown.
Cristina Iskander of Cordova.
Jacquelyn Johns of Memphis.
Michael Brooks of Collierville.
John Rainwater of Memphis.
Josephine Sammons of Collierville.
Alison Simmons of Memphis
Mark Whitehead of Hernando.
Winners, here's how you collect: Call us at 529-2508 and leave a daytime and nighttime phone number so we can make arrangements for you to receive your prizes. Winners must make an appointment to pick up the tickets within 30 days.
Incidentally, contestants as a whole were accurate in eight of 10 categories. While 74 percent of the would-be Beifuss beaters predicted "Slumdog Millionaire" as Best Picture and 86 percent named Heath Ledger as Best Supporting Actor, readers also thought Rourke would beat Penn; the star of "The Wrestler" received 44 percent of the guesses, while the "Milk" man got 38 percent.
Readers also incorrectly predicted that "Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" would be Best Song; 48 percent picked that Peter Gabriel composition, while 32 percent chose "Jai Ho."
Finally, in our favorite statistical category, six readers went 0-for-10 by picking a nonwinner in every category. The most curious entry, however, came from a woman who mailed in a ballot with her name, address and other contact information, but without a single Oscar pick checked. Memo to KNP of Memphis: Your odds of winning increase when you actually fill in the ballot.
John Beifuss: 529-2394
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