Winners Announced in Olive Garden's 2008 Pasta Tales National Essay Writing Contest
Thirteen students around the nation recognized

ORLANDO, Fla. – Michelle Fauber’s favorite family activity is the time she spends gathering with her father, stepmother and younger sister to watch home videos of her late mother. Fauber’s moving description of why this is special to her was chosen by judges as the grand prize winner in the 12th-annual Olive Garden Pasta Tales national essay writing contest.

A 12th-grader at Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, Pa., Fauber’s essay was selected from more than 28,300 entries, the most ever received in the history of the contest. Students in first through 12th grade were asked: “What is your favorite family activity and what makes it so special?”
In her essay, Fauber recounts the cherished details of her mother brought to life on video. “There she was: laughing, touching the arms of her friends, making bad jokes that sounded frighteningly like my own. A woman with strikingly pale skin and jet black hair; a person with a life, a laugh, a voice that seemed strangely unfamiliar and yet exactly as I thought; my mother,” Fauber wrote. “I saw on that night that the ability to look back on a painful yet indispensable past and to be smiling in the present in the company of each other. …”

Fauber’s essay was “happy and sad, optimistic, inspiring and nostalgic. There wasn’t a wasted word, and in only a handful of sentences she brought readers into a whole new world. … Her moving, efficient, genuine tone had no match in this contest,” noted one of the judges from the Quill and Scroll Society of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Iowa who reviews the essays.

As the Pasta Tales grand prize winner, Fauber received a $2,500 savings bond, a trip with her family to New York City and dinner at the Olive Garden in Times Square.

“Michelle’s beautifully written essay was heartfelt and shared an intimate look into a very special moment for her family,” said Mara Frazier, spokesperson for Olive Garden. “Every year, we are impressed by the creativity and talent of these young writers. Thanks to them for their efforts, as well as to the parents and teachers who encourage them to express their thoughts and emotions through writing.”