Carnival offers kids the chance to become Dream Godchild, donates to St. Jude

I am not a big fan of Carnival Cruise Lines for many reasons, but what they are doing with their new contest is something I thought was important enough to share with others.

On September 21, Carnival Cruise Lines will introduce its new ship, the Carnival Dream. In honor of the launch, the cruise line is inviting children, ages 7 to 12, to participate in the Virtual Book of Dreams contest. By entering and sharing their own dreams, kids will earn the chance to become the world's first-ever Godchild of a cruise ship waterslide. The winning kid will will travel with her or his family to New York City to christen the WaterWorks aqua park on the ship, and will receive a free two-night cruise on the Carnival Dream when the ship makes its North American debut in November.

While the contest is all nice and good, its not really what I care about. What I think is newsworthy is the fact that for every entry in the Virtual Book of Dreams contest, Carnival Cruise Lines will make a $2 donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Furthermore, the line will donate $1 for each vote on the Virtual Book of Dreams Web site, with a maximum contribution of $25,000.

For such a huge company, I think that's a pretty paltry amount of money but it will still do a lot of good for the hospital. And I suppose considering how bad the cruise industry has it right now, with millions of dollars in losses, $25,000 might actually be a lot of money (right now).

So if any of you have kids or know a kid between 7 and 12 tell them to enter and do their part to help out other kids in need. To enter the Virtual Book of Dreams contest, children must complete the thought "I'm always dreaming up fun stuff. Wouldn't it be awesome if..." in 250 words or less, along with a corresponding hand-drawn picture. The entries must be submitted on the contest Website by the parents or legal guardians of the children who wish to enter. Entries must be received before Sept. 18, 2009. Four finalists will be chosen by a panel of judges, and one Wild Card finalist will be selected via public online voting (remember $1 for every online vote!). The public will then vote for the winner.