Ringling Student Wins National Hallmark Greeting Card C...( Card designed by student from Florid...),Health

Card designed by student from Florida's Ringling School of Art and Design

is selected by voters; now available for purchase

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Hallmark Cards, Inc., today announces America voted Erin McGuire -- a Sarasota, Fla., design student -- the best of the best, beating nine other finalists to be named the Grand Prize winner in the company's national card competition.

(Photo: http://www.ereleases.com/pr/2008-Hallmark.jpg)

Hallmark selected Ringling School of Art and Design student Erin McGuire's design as one of 9 finalists in its national (PRODUCT) RED(TM) card competition in December. Then, McGuire's design was made into a real Hallmark greeting card currently being sold online, with a portion of its sales benefiting the Global Fund (http://www.theglobalfund.org) to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.

For years Hallmark consumers like McGuire have been clamoring to submit their own greeting card designs to the company. The result is the launch of the first in a series of themed card competitions -- a competition inspired by Hallmark's partnership with (RED)(TM). Online voters chose McGuire as the Grand Prize winner. In total, more than 75,000 votes were collected. Florida student McGuire -- originally from Port Richey, Fla. -- earned 34 percent of those votes.

McGuire's design features a girl handing a card to a bird to enable the card's delivery. The colorful, whimsical design garnered more attention than she suspected.

"I was really overwhelmed by how far-reaching this competition was. People I barely knew were letting me know they voted for me," says McGuire. "I returned to school from winter break the last week of voting, and the Ringling community really came together to support my work and help me win Hallmark's card competition."

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