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If there never was a good reason to learn to write...there is one now.

A couple in Colebrook Township, Ashtabula, Ohio is putting up their 43.5 acre farm as the winning prize in an essay contest.

The 2,000 square foot white ranch house at 815 Storey Roard comes with the package.

A non-refundable $100 entry fee can get a writer entered into the contest as well as help the current couple pay off the mortgage.

12 acres are tillable and 16 acres include a pond and three grazing areas. Six acres are used to grow hay, corn or soy beans. The other nine some acres are wooded.

Spelling and Grammar are NOT important and entries must be 50 words or more.

The winner will be decided when/after the couple has received 3,000 entries.

Essay entries and the $100 fee can be sent to:

Farm Essay, C/O Rose Wallace, P.O. Box 186, Orwell, Ohio, 44076.

Certified checks should be made out to Rose Wallace

From the Tribune-Chronicle -

A third party will read and pick the winning essay. Their decision is final.

- Contest started March 21 and ends with once 3,000 essays are received.

- Essay winner is responsible for all costs dealing with ownership and tax transfers.

- Essay winner will be notified within two weeks of judge's decision and will take possession of the property and home 60 days after the transfer of the title and deed.

- The Ashtabula County Sheriff's office checked with the couple's lawyer and the Internal Revenue Service and said the contest is legit.

Property includes:

About 2,000 square foot ranch style house with red metal roof, central air as of 2006, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, eat-in kitchen with appliances, living room with fireplace, family room with built in bookshelves and cupboards, full basement with washer and dryer, freezer, propane furnace, waterproofing and sub pump, two-year-old windows, vinyl siding and a metal roof, drinking system, patio with tarp enclosure, two car garage with attached wood shed, paved driveway, six stall barn with an office, three bay pole barn, two bay pole barn, stocked pond, fenced pastures, concord grape vines and an apple orchard.