The heart-wrenching essay written by a 6-year-old girl opened with the line: “My daddy died this year in Iraq.”
Touching, yes.
But the composition, which won the little girl the hottest tickets in the country – to a Hannah Montana concert in upstate New York – was pure hokum.
And yesterday, the little girl’s first prize was taken back by the competition’s organizers.
The girl’s mother, Priscilla Ceballos, of Garland, Texas, admitted the story was a fraud and concocted so she and her daughter could win the contest.
But it seems the mom couldn’t understand all the fuss over lying.
“We did the essay and that’s what we did to win,” Ceballos boldly told Dallas TV station KDFW Friday.
“We did whatever we could do to win. But when [the competition organizer] asked me if this essay is true, I said, ‘No, this essay is not true.’ ”
The mom also complained the contest sponsor never stated the essay had to be nonfiction.
“It never did say it had to be true, but [the organizers] said, ‘That’s what we expected.’ ” Ceballos said.
The competition’s sponsor was Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based retail chain targeted at “tween” girls.
On Friday, the company surprised the girl at a Club Libby Lu in a Garland mall, treating her to a Hannah Montana makeover and the first prize of airfare for four to Albany, NY, and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9.
At the event, the mother told company officials the girl’s daddy, Jonathan Menjivar, was killed April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq.
Here’s the essay that won the judge’s heart:
“My daddy died this year in Iraq. I am going to give my mommy the Angel pendant that daddy put on mommy when she was having me. I had it in my jewelry box since that day. I love my mommy.”
But Defense Department records revealed one US soldier died that day, and it wasn’t Menjivar.
On Friday night, Ceballos confessed to the Fox TV affiliate in Dallas: “When [the contest organizers] asked me if this was true, I told her no. We never said this was a true story.”
After 24 hours of deliberation, Club Libby Lu announced yesterday it was taking the prize from the 6-year-old girl.
“Club Libby Lu has been evaluating the situation surrounding our Hannah Montana Rock Your Holidays Essay Contest and is extremely sensitive to the fact we’re dealing with a 6-year-old little girl,” company CEO Mary Drolet said in a statement.
“After awarding the grand prize, we unfortunately learned that the statements made in the essay were untrue.
“Club Libby Lu greatly values honestly and integrity. In order to uphold these values, we have decided to withdraw the award initially given to the Ceballos family.”
Drolet said the prize would be passed on to another contestant whom the company would not identify.
The fraudulent essay was submitted under the name Alexis Menjivar.
Calls to the publicist for Miley Cyrus – who plays Hannah Montana – were not returned yesterday.