$10,000 FOR READING THE FINE PRINT

DONELAN ANDREWS, age 60, Thomaston, Georgia

Was this a contest?

Sort of. I bought travel insurance for a trip to London from a company called Squaremouth. When I got to the seventh page of the contract, I saw a paragraph that said, “It pays to read.” It gave directions to e-mail a particular address. They called the next day and said I’d won $10,000. During the 23-hour period before I e-mailed them, 73 policies had been purchased and I was the only one who had read that far.

Why did Squaremouth do this?

To promote the importance of reading contracts. They expected it to take a year to find a winner.

You must be a lawyer.

I’m actually a learning coordinator who helps kids figure out careers and enter the workforce. It’s second nature to know what I’m signing up for.

How do you show kids the importance of reading the fine print?

When I would make a test, the last part of the directions would say something like “You can gain 10 bonus points if you circle the number 10 on page 2.” About a third of the class would do that, and the other two thirds would be mad when they got their tests back.

What are you going to do with the prize money?

My husband and I are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary and my retirement this summer, so it paid for a trip to Scotland. And I have already purchased travel insurance for that as well.