<a href="https://archive.uwimprint.ca/article/4768-a-uw-student-will-wake-up">After weeks of anticipation</a>, we finally know the lucky UW student who won Canada’s Luckiest Student contest.
The winner, Daniel Pracsovics from Cobourg, Ontario, was announced as the winner of the nation-wide contest in an emotional grand reveal hosted in The Bombshelter Pub on Jan. 31. There were 2,000 student submissions from UW alone.
His family, who were notified before the reveal and featured on a video screened before the official announcement, surprised Pracsovics at the grand reveal at the Bomber to celebrate. The surprise on his face from first winning and then finding out his closest family and friends were in attendance made for a heart-warming and emotional scene.
“It’s funny because, before I was announced as the winner, I was texting my parents and my sister saying, ‘I got an invitation; what if it’s me? There’s a really good chance’,” he said. “They lied to me the whole time.”
Pracsovics said he knew instantly that he was the grand prize winner when they showed Cobourg in the video that was screened right before the announcement.
“It’s me,” he said, “I’m the only one from my hometown that came to this university.”
The physics and astronomy first-year student credits luck and perseverance when asked why he thinks he was so fortunate to be the grand prize winner. He spent about five to 10 minutes per day voucher hunting to increase his odds of winning.
“It didn’t take much time, just a little bit here and there. It all added up,” Pracsovics said. “I stayed with it. Some people gave up on voucher hunting -— it was too much for them; they had to study; they had other stuff to do — that’s why I won I guess.”
How will the $60,000 grand prize impact his life financially? Pracsovics said it will help to lift the burden of tuition off his shoulders, and hopes it will help him with future research in his field of study.
