Gilbert's Gloria Mendez wins Grammy contest
By CHRIS HANSEN ORF
Get Out

I was confident. I consulted psychics, I had premonitions, and when the show rolled around Sunday evening I sat down with my Grammy picks, ready to revel in the glory of my successful predictions. I had a smirk on my face that said, “None of our readers are going to beat me.”

It didn't happen.

After enduring a full night of the interminably long, glitzy Grammy Awards telecast, opening hundreds of e-mails and envelopes and grading the entries for the annual Get Out Grammys contest, a winner has finally been declared.

Gloria Mendez, 37, of Gilbert was one of several entrants who tied with six of 10 correct predictions, and her ballot was pulled from a hat (well, a large candy dish) to win the $200 Zia Records gift card.

“I can't believe I won!” an ecstatic Mendez said after receiving the news. “I had four of my co-workers send in their choices also and we had a little in-office competition going. I plan on getting a CD for each of them with the certificate. “My job had a perfect attendance promotion for the month of January and I won an Apple iPod. Good thing I have a teenager to show me how to use it!” says the foster mother. In addition to lucky winner Mendez, the following people also finished with six correct predictions but lost out on the prize only by bad luck of the draw: Tracy Fresch and Vanetta Beckwith of Chandler; Nancy Hosalla and Patrick Mack of Mesa; Monte Rhodes of Gilbert and Karen Becraft of Scottsdale.

Incidentally, like several entrants, I finished with five correct answers. (Hey, who knew Ray Charles would win so many awards?)

That smirk on my face is gone now. Wait until next year!