Williamsburg woman wins second News Journal Secret Phrase Game contest

Kimberly Adkins, of Williamsburg, accepts the $500 prize for winning the News Journal’s Secret Phrase Game last week. She is pictured with her daughter, Chelsea Taylor.

A Williamsburg woman said winning the News Journal’s second annual Secret Phrase Game contest made her Christmas holiday a whole lot merrier this year.

Kimberly Adkins, 45, said she was surprised when she was the first caller to correctly guess the phrase last Wednesday when she called the News Journal office.

“I was actually shocked,” she said. “Last year, I tried to call several times but I didn’t get through until about five minutes after 11:00 a.m. I knew this year that chances were you didn’t have a winner yet.”

The game began in early October and ran 12 weeks, through Dec. 21. Each week, the News Journal would run a single word somewhere in the newspaper that was part of a larger phrase. The words appeared out of sequence. Those participating had to put the words in the correct order to get the right phrase, then be the first caller to provide that phrase starting at 11:00 a.m. on the final day of the contest. The winner received $500.

The phrase this year was a quote by famous American author, abolitionist and naturalist Henry David Thoreau: “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
Adkins said she had the phrase figured out about three weeks before the end of the contest.

“I predicted what the next words would be and I was right,” Adkins said. “It was fun. I followed along every week. I enjoyed playing the game.”

Adkins said she used the money to buy Christmas presents for her adult children.

“My daughter got a new microwave and some clothes,” she said. “My son got some clothes too. I actually paid his car insurance for him too, and he was very happy about that because it was about ready to run out.”

Winning the contest was just the latest in good news for Adkins in 2016. She said her daughter, Chelsea Taylor, found out on Thanksgiving that she is going to have a baby.

“She just got married in August, so we are very excited about that too.”