I have always maintained that my readers, as a group, are smarter and funnier and more clever than anyone else's readers, including James Joyce and William Faulkner.

And this has again been proven with the Contest Contest. There were more than 100 entries in the Contest Contest, and I have never seen such good ideas for giving away free books. And so it was painful and difficult to pick a mere three. But before announcing the winners, let's discuss some of my favorite losers:

Major American author David Lubar said, "You should have a contest where people turn a scene from Looking for Alaska into a shoebox diorama using only gold coins and precious gems. Heaviest entry wins."

I also greatly enjoyed the suggestion that I give away an ARC to the first person who goes to Antarctica and claims it in the name of Alaska (the person, not the state).

But in the end, I decided to select three practical contests. You can enter any (or all!) of these contests between today and August 15th. The prize for each of these contests is a free autographed advanced readers' copy of my new book, An Abundance of Katherines.

CONTEST 1: Outprank Alaska.
SUGGESTED BY: Stephanie
HOW IT WORKS: You come up with a prank that's better than anything Alaska and Pudge and the Colonel ever came up with. The stripper prank is the finest in Culver Creek history; your job is to top it.

CONTEST 2: Photograph copies of Looking for Alaska in unusual places.
SUGGESTED BY: Chris Higgins
HOW IT WORKS: You take a picture of a copy of Looking for Alaska in a fascinating place. Alaska at Graceland, for instance; or swimming with you in the Indian Ocean; or parachuting out of an airplane. Do they make parachutes for books? I don't know. That's for you to find out (and photograph).

CONTEST 3: Create a Looking for Alaska playlist.
SUGGESTED BY: Chuck
HOW IT WORKS: You submit a list of songs--that add up to no more than 72 minutes, so that if you win I can burn it onto a CD--that you think reflect something about Looking for Alaska. Think of it this way: If you were going to make a soundtrack for the hypothetical Alaska movie, which songs would you choose?

Thanks to all who participated in the Contest Contest, and I hope you'll submit to these contests, too. They should be fun.