Jerry’s hungry

The competition was fierce. Bloggers promised to don tomato suits and dance at NYC's Rockefeller Center. They pimped their cute kids for persuasive videos. They dangled free iPods and whatnot. They offered matching funds All in the name of doing right for the kids (and maybe having lunch with Chief Yahoo Jerry Yang.)

Ladies and gentlemen, the results of the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge are in. The Yahoo! award, for the highest number of donors, goes to Tomato Nation’s Sarah Bunting, who raised more than $100,000 (blowing past her initial goal of $40,000) from 1,099 donors in support of programs and supplies for America’s public school children. Her reward was lunch with Jerry at URL’s Café at our Sunnyvale headquarters (because our food is that good). But selfless tomato that she is, Sarah will be offering this grand-prize dining experience to one of her loyal readers — stay tuned on her blog for more.

Sarah also made good on her promise to be transformed into a giant tomato while going about her work day. Her brother filmed it all last Friday and you can catch it below.

(You gotta love New York City, where a gum-chewing red orb with tights, leafy-green headgear, and a purse snatches nary a glance as it squeezes through subway turnstiles and into crowded elevators.)

We were so inspired by the nail-biting competition in the technology category, that we offered a second grand prize to the winner of the Technology Leaderboard. That honor was ultimately snaked by Fred Wilson of A VC, who raised more than $18,000 from 92 donors. Fred, too, threw some icing on the cake by offering his seat at Jerry’s table to a reader via an essay contest. Word has it the lucky diner will be a student selected from a tech workshop in urban Oakland, California.

Jerry’s hungry. He’s got the lunch trays all ready. And he thanks the many DonorsChoose contributors who paused their busy days to make a difference for the kids.

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor