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Wisconsin Teen Looks To Repeat As Texting Champ, FAWC

By: Mark Memmott // August 8, 2012
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FAWC, BTW, means "for anyone who cares," in texting shorthand.

The news, if we can call it that, is that the 2012 LG U.S. National Texting Championship is being held today in New York City.

According to the Wausau Daily Herald, 17-year-old Austin Wierschke of Rhinelander, Wis., is "looking to become the first texting competitor to win back-to-back titles" and to take home another $50,000 prize.

Among those he'll be matched against:

-- Kent Augustine, 16, of Queens, N.Y., who the Daily News says can "type 3.5 characters per second."

-- Olivia Fagan, 16, from Clermont, Fla. She can do 40 words per minute, according to Central Florida News 13.

-- Alyssa Podwell and Rachel Armstrong of Illinois. TimeOutChicago says the 18-year-olds " have been exercising their nimble fingers to prep for the big day."

Long-time Two-Way readers might recall our post about the 2009 winner, Kate Moore of Des Moines, who told NPR's Michele Norris that she got good by ... texting a lot. "If you do it enough, you get really good at it," she said.

Speed and accuracy play into the competition, as this video shows.

We'll keep an eye out for news about who wins.

Wouldn't it be something if a certain secretary of state shot a gratz to the champion? (Gratz=congratulations.)

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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