You were all supposed to hear this information on our newest podcast but my program crashed when I was almost done editing the episode and I lost everything, so it will be a few days until the podcast comes out. In the meantime, we wanted to get this information out ASAP.

We’ve got good news and we’ve got bad news. Let’s do the bad news first.

While we loved all of the videos submitted for our Beedle the Bard contest, we didn’t get enough submissions to give away the Deluxe Edition of the book. We apologize for this. In solidarity, we will only be buying the standard book for ourselves as well.

And now for the good news.

We have decided to give a copy of Beedle the Bard to each of the people who entered the contest. So to quote Oprah, “You’re getting Beedle the Bard, and You’re getting Beedle the Bard and…..you know the rest….”

So if the following people could please e-mail us your mailing addresses ASAP (harrypotterprogs at yahoo dot com), so we could order the book, please do so. We really appreciate it:

-Karl Kirby
-Michal and Akiva
-My Freezeray
-Amelia
-Lisa
-Becca A.

Thank you all so much for participating, Congratulations to you all!!

BBC News is reporting that JK Rowling will be reading excerpts from the Tales of Beedle the Bard at a tea party at the National Library of Scotland, hosted by The Children’s High Level Group, the charity that Jo Rowling co-founded . The Party will take place on December 4, 2008, the same day that the Tales of Beedle the Bard hit the shelves.

Local school children will be invited to attend the special charity launch. Net proceeds from the sale of The Tales of Beedle the Bard will fund the charity’s work with vulnerable children across Eastern Europe. To celebrate the launch, children across the UK and those visiting from further afield, will get the opportunity to see one of only seven original copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard on display at the National Library of Scotland.
The month-long Beedle display will take place from 5 December to 4 January….There will be the opportunity for 10 local schools to each bring up to 20 pupils, aged 8 to 11, to the Beedle tea party.
The tickets will be allocated through a random ballot, to be run by the Edinburgh Evening News, from Wednesday 5 November 2008.

So, what about children who aren’t “local school children?” Well, Schostic, the US publisher of the Harry Potter series has announced a children’s essay contest, with five grand prizes of trips for two to Jo’s Beedle the Bard tea party in Scotland.

In order to enter The Tales of Beedle the Bard essay contest, fans are asked to write an essay of 200 words or less describing how they have helped others.

Good luck to all of the children (or parents of children) who enter!!

It has been almost 6 months coming, but Judge Robert Patterson finally handed down the verdict in the JK Rowling/WB vs. Steve Vander Ark/RDR lawsuit. And the winner is…..JK Rowling. In this week’s episode, we discussed the decision, the reactions of both sides, what this means for the Harry Potter fandom as well as the future of copyright law.

We also officially announced the rules for our Beedle the Bard YouTube Contest. Please make sure to enter, we want to be able to give out the books to some worthy winners!

Finally, take a look at the Wall Street Journal Article (page 1, baby!) that mentions our Hitler Half Blood Prince Delay video. The article only portrays us as only *slightly* crazy…:)

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at http://audiblepodcast.com/hp.

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments, thoughts, and suggestions!!

You can listen to the episode using the player below, or download directly as an mp3.

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