Diamonds in the Rough Contest Rewards Youth Who Build Character Playing Baseball

Grand prize winner to bring home $10,000 and equipment to maintain their baseball field


MILWAUKEE, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ — Playing baseball builds self-confidence in youth and teaches them the value of hard work. Briggs & Stratton Corporation, the leading manufacturer of gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment, is celebrating its 100th anniversary by teaming with baseball great Tino Martinez to find stories that bring this important idea to life.


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080219/AQTU025)


The 2008 Diamonds in the Rough youth baseball contest is challenging kids to inspire their peers — and America — by explaining how playing baseball helped them build The Power Within to overcome challenges on or off the field.


Kids are encouraged to share their story through a video, essay or photos at http://www.briggsdiamondsintherough.com/. The grand prize winner will win $10,000 to help maintain their home baseball field and a trip for four to New York to attend a Yankees game.


Martinez launched the contest today from Legends Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees. “Building and relying on character is often the key to success on and off the field,” he said. “Diamonds in the Rough helps kids recognize that the self-reliance and can-do spirit they learn through baseball can help them overcome their most difficult challenges.”


In four years of sponsoring Diamonds in the Rough, Briggs & Stratton has donated more than $400,000 to youth baseball organizations and helped kids achieve their goals — even if that is simply having a better field on which to play.


“Briggs & Stratton is proud to reward kids who use lessons from playing baseball to shine as young people,” said Anita Fisher, marketing communications manager, Briggs & Stratton. “Beyond being baseball fans, we know our customers rely on a similar spirit of using individual excellence to accomplish great things. Our engines, in turn, give them the power to create the best-possible lawns — or baseball fields.”

  Contest Outline
— Kids, ages 7-14, can enter the Diamonds in the Rough contest from
February 19-March 23, 2008.
— Nineteen winners from select cities* will win $5,000 and lawn
equipment powered by Briggs & Stratton for maintaining their home
field. One national “MVP Winner” will also be named from entries not
from the select cities.
— The 20 winners will compete for the grand prize — $10,000 for their
home field and a trip for four to New York to see a Yankees game —
which will be determined via an online vote from March 26-April 13,
2008.
— More information, including an entry form and official rules, is
available at
http://www.briggsdiamondsintherough.com/.

* Within a 30-mile radius of Atlanta, Ga.; Boston, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.;
Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colo.;
Detroit, Mich.; Houston, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles, Calif.;
Milwaukee, Wis.; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; Philadelphia, Pa.;
Portland, Ore., Sacramento, Calif.; St. Louis, Mo.; Seattle, Wash.;
Tampa, Fla.

About Briggs & Stratton


Briggs & Stratton Corporation is the world’s largest producer of gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment. Its wholly-owned subsidiary Briggs & Stratton Power Products Group LLC is North America’s No. 1 manufacturer of portable generators and pressure washers and is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of lawn and garden and turf care with its Simplicity(R), Snapper(R), Ferris(R) and Murray(R) brands. Briggs & Stratton products are designed, manufactured, marketed and serviced in more than 100 countries on all seven continents.


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Source: Briggs & Stratton Corporation