When Canada’s Alla Wagner tried and failed to sell her home in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, she took inspiration from the movie The Spitfire Grill and came up with a writing competition of her own.
The contest has a $19 entry fee and involves participants submitting a 350-word letter explaining why they should win the $1.3 million house in Millarville. Among other things, the 5,000-square-foot home features a wine cellar and scores of windows to accommodate the mountain views.
In an interview with CTV Calgary, Wagner said she is banking on the competition generating sufficient entrants to offset the minimum asking price.
In fact, the main condition of the contest is that it must attract at least 68,000 entries. If this does not happen, the competition will be canceled and all the entry fees refunded. If it does, though, the entries will be whittled down to 500, from which an independent panel of judges will select the winning letter.
The competition is set to run for three months, although this may be extended to six months. For full details of the competition and all the relevant rules, see this Facebook page.
“I know that it’s going to be a beautiful story in the end,” says Wagner.