Richard Blair -- Cedar Rapids, Iowa

After tallying thousands of votes in the $10,000 Grow Your Meosphere Give Away, Meosphere is pleased to announce the winner is Richard (Rick) Blair from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Rick is winning his self-declared prize of escaping the Midwest heat and humidity by traveling to ‘beautiful cold places,’ including the Swiss Alps, Norway’s fjords, Iceland, Copenhagen and possibly Alaska.

Rick’s 20-word contest entry described the way he would grow his meosphere—the places he’s been and things he’s done. He was then chosen at random from thousands of entries, and finally, his entry received the most online votes of the final six.

Rick campaigned on social networking site Facebook and was aided by local press in the Cedar Rapids area. “It’s amazing how quickly social networks on the Internet can mobilize people. Rick was able to reach a network of friends and ended with 30 percent more votes than the next contestant,” said Meosphere CEO Eric Eliason.

Having graduated valedictorian of Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, Rick is heading to the University of Chicago this fall after his whirlwind trip. He will leave in August traveling with a friend. People can follow his adventures on Meosphere’s blog site at blog.meosphere.com.

“This is really exciting for me because I've never been outside the United States, and suddenly I'm getting a chance to add so many new countries and experiences to my 'meosphere',” said Rick. “This trip will be unforgettable."

Meosphere, a new website that allows users to document the places they’ve been and the things they’ve done with 2,500 checklists and maps, sponsored the contest to encourage users to dream about the types of things they would love to do in their lives to expand their ‘meospheres’. “You can grow your meosphere by doing something as simple as reading a book,” said Eliason. “A chance at ten thousand dollars just gave a lot of people the chance to dream, and for Rick to realize a dream.”