Thanks to Park Inn Watford for the tickets to Leavesden Studios that made this essay contest inviting, thank you to all those who wrote essays and especially our three finalists, and thank you to those of you who voted yesterday and today for a winner!

And the winner is Alayna Rinlo, Contestant number 2! Your tickets will be mailed out by owl later this month.

To our runners-up, Christine Sheola and  Gabe Stackhouse, congratulations to you as well on making the finals! A consolation prize is winging its way to you as you read this.

Feedback below on this contest and suggestions for future contest prizes, questions, and formats are much appreciated!

Voting is simple. Leave a one sentence vote in the comment boxes below. One vote only, please, and anything negative will be deleted! Thank you to all of you who sent entries and best wishes to our three finalists —

First Contestant

… But the thing I love the most about Harry Potter, and the thing that I’ll always be thankful for, is the friendships. In that lonely time period, I had no friends to speak of. No one I could call my own. But whenever I opened Harry Potter, I had two of the best friends I could ever ask for in Ron and Hermione, a family that would go to the end of the world for me in the Weasleys, a girlfriend who loved me unconditionally in Ginny, and a whole community of people who accepted me for exactly who I was. In a time where loneliness and despair dominated my thoughts, that was the best gift I could’ve ever been given. It may have saved my life.

And the very best part of it all is that despite whatever else is going on in my life, they’re always just a page turn away.

Second Contestant

… Now, the last thing I love about Harry Potter. The thing that I find most important is the lessons I have learned from it. From Hermione; I learned that it doesn’t matter what people think of you, and that as long as you make yourself happy, others opinions aren’t important. From Ron; to never underestimate yourself just because someone is better at something than you, one day you’ll find something you’re truly good at. Lastly, from Harry; bravery, courage, and loyalty are things most important in your character, and that you can defy the limitations of your past if you try hard enough.

So, when I am old and sitting on my porch, reading Harry Potter again, and my grandchildren ask me, ‘after all this time?’ I will reply with,

‘Always.’

Third Contestant

… I wept imagining what it must have been like for Jo. She created her saga inspired and guided by the alchemical process. As medieval alchemists were aware, steps taken to produce the Philosopher’s Stone can also initiate spiritual advancement for the practitioner. Similarly, writers could weave this process into their story and experience catharsis through that story. In this way, their work becomes a transformative journey for the writer. And then she gave it to us. I felt profoundly grateful when I understood how her work had likewise engaged our hearts making it possible for me and countless others to have a direct and edifying experience of Harry’s path to transformation and transcendence. I love Harry’s story and I love Jo for gifting it to us.

Following the triumph of Love over Death, waves of tearful joy and hope washed over me and will remain with me forever. For if Death is the last Mystery we question, Harry’s story enlightens us with the manner in which Love answers.

The polls will close at noon Monday and the winner will be announced Monday evening. Thank you, Park Inn Watford  hotel, again, for making these tickets available!

As posted here last month, in the first of what the faculty hopes are a series of HogwartsProfessor Short Essay Contests, we asked you to write a 500-750 word composition, poem, fictional vignette, whatever in answer to the question, “When I am asked why I love the Hogwarts Saga, I answer…” This week we are  posting the best responses we received by the 1 March deadline  — and the essay receiving the most votes in a tally this weekend will earn its author two free tickets to the Warner Brothers Studio Tours, London, a $100 value.

We won’t be paying your air fare to see the famous Leavesden Studios if you’re in North America, of course, or your stay, alas. Getting there is your job. We recommend with enthusiasm, though, that you make reservations at the Park Inn Watford  hotel, which establishment has kindly provided us with these tickets for a promotional give away. Hurrah!

Without further introduction, then, the third contestant’s entry:

When I am asked why I love the Hogwarts Saga…

……my head starts spinning because there are far more reasons than can fit nicely into a 750-word essay. I have spent years studying this text and wrote many essays on many topics. I could focus this essay on the brilliance of her world building and character development, or her satisfyingly OTT attention to detail. I still laugh out loud at the funny bits, especially her Dickensian names for places like Smeltings and Ottery St. Catchpole (chuckling mildly). I marvel at the structure and geometry of the piece. Rings within rings. Triangles, circles and one ugly square. However, despite my admiration for these and other literary virtues, and the fact that there always seems to be more to discover, it’s all about my first experience of the series and its profound impact during and after reading Deathly Hallows.

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