FW: Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Tournament Press Announcement

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NEWS RELEASE
Monday / September 15 / 2008

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Ginny Cohen
757.339.3995
midatlanticrockfishshootout.com

News and Updates for the
’09 Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout
January 8-10, 2009
$100,000 Estimated Tournament Payout!!!

Dear Anglers,
For those of you who have supported and participated in the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout we can’t thank you enough!  It’s been a great time and we have learned a lot along the way.  With the 5th Annual mark behind us, we look to the next 5 years to, as always, provide the biggest, baddest Rockfish tournament in the country!  As we continue to grow, we will learn to be innovative and adapt to keep up with the challenges that face us.  Please know that all decisions made for the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout evolve from suggestions and recommendations that we receive from our participants – always keeping our anglers and conservation in mind.  This tournament is and always will be foremost about our anglers!
As I mentioned at the ’08 awards ceremony, this year we will have 2 divisions – 1 for live bait and 1 for artificial.  This decision is based on our respect for the traditions and sportsmanship of both of these different techniques.
Here’s how it will work:
I am very excited to announce that the ’09 Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout will payout a guaranteed CASH prize of $100,000 plus calcuttas based on 250 teams being registered.  The payout will be distributed between the two divisions (artificial bait and live bait) according to the percentage of participation in each division.  (For example:  If there are 250 teams entered and 200 are artificial bait and 50 are live bait teams the payout would be distributed as follows.  Out of the $100,000 jackpot – $10,000 Early Bird Payout = $90,000 to distribute.  Live Bait Distribution = $18,000 and Artificial = $72,000.  If less than 20% choose to enter the tournament in either category (live or artificial bait), then the tournament may opt to choose the format in favor of the most popular category the following year (2010). 
If you didn’t catch it in the above example, yes – this year’s Early Bird Raffle will consist of 2-$5,000 raffles so enter by December 15, 2008 for a chance at the Early Bird Raffles – which will be drawn at the Captain’s meeting.  If you preregister you still have the option to change your category to live bait or artificial the night of the Captain’s meeting.
Moving forward, we’ve got great things ahead.  We have made a 5 year commitment to give $25,000 to CHKD to pay for a recovery room in the Children’s Hospital.  We also annually donate to the Casey Neal Rogers college scholarship fund awarded to a deserving high school student from Reedville, Virginia.  This year the Shootout also helped one of our anglers though a donation to his transplant fund.  Our anglers are the most important key to our success and together we are reaching out to our community through donations and our annual fish contributions to the Southeastern Foodbank.  To date, we have contributed over 20,000 meals to the homeless community in Hampton Roads.  Thank you. 
As usual, your tournament entry will include a nightly fest, daily breakast and 5 tickets to the awards banquet.  It is our goal to provide the best bang for your buck in the tournament world and, as promised, we haven’t raised the registration fee!
We hope to see you in ’09!
Best regards,
Mike Standing, Jr.

Fish Hard.  Fish VB.

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