If you ask Kyla Barnwell about her hobbies, she may cite gaming. Or super-sleuthing. Along with lots of reading.
The 10-year-old Atlanta girl recently used all three skills to win $1,000 in an international multimedia contest called The 39 Clues, a fantasy-meets-history online game spawned from a popular book series.
The game is geared toward kids ages 6 to 14. Players must join a branch of a fictional powerful family, the Cahills, in order to hunt clues. Participants from around the world can win prizes with each book release, and Kyla was the top winner from the third book.
At least 560,000 kids have entered the competition at www.the39clues.com, according to Scholastic.
Kyla beat others from as far away at Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.
She started reading The 39 Clues books a few months ago and subsequently logged in online to join the game.
“I love adventure and mystery books, and I like the characters a lot,” said Kyla, who attends the Westminster Schools. “And I love reading.”
Her mom, Desiree Sapp, says she was skeptical when they first learned via email that Kyla may have won a prize, but then Kyla mentioned her classmate had won $50 in an earlier contest.
Sapp assumed her daughter had won the same until they were told she took the $1,000 prize.
The money is going to their church and to savings, with a slight exception, Sapp said.
“She has convinced us to let her have some money to go shopping,” she said with a laugh.
The person who finds all 39 clues and uncovers the Cahill treasure at the end of the series has a chance at a $10,000 grand prize.
It could be Kyla, but for now, she’s looking forward to sharing her news with pals when school starts this week.
“I can’t wait to tell them that I won,” she said. “
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