DRI Darden Restaurants Inc

ORLANDO, Fla., June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Daniel Carr wants to be an environmental filmmaker.  That's his dream.  But, even better than just dreaming it, this ninth-grader has a plan to achieve it.  Carr shared his plan and the passion that fuels it in a well-written essay that earned him the grand prize designation in Olive Garden's 15th-annual Pasta Tales essay writing contest.

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A homeschooled student from Woodland Park, Colo., Carr's essay was selected from more than 28,000 entries submitted this year from across North America.  Olive Garden asked students in first through 12th grade to "Describe how furthering your education beyond high school will help make your dreams come true."  

Olive Garden, along with its parent company Darden Restaurants, is dedicated to enabling and empowering today's youth to achieve their future goals through postsecondary education.  Through its Pasta Tales essay contest, Olive Garden provides students in its local communities throughout North America an outlet to creatively express the influences, experiences and stories that have shaped their lives and will pave the way for their futures. 

In his essay, Carr expresses his filmmaking dream and outlines the steps he must take to reach it.  He wrote, "My dream is to become an environmental filmmaker and use my films to educate and inspire others about important issues.  To make my dream come true, I need to further my education by attending college and professional film school.  I've begun working toward my goal by pursuing academic excellence and honing my filmmaking skills.  My first taste of reaching an audience came when the local PBS station featured one of my films.  The film was about why and how the use of environmentally-friendly household cleaners helps the natural water habitat.  Later, the film was shown on the websites of environmental awareness groups and at the Tampa Bay Green Business Summit, where I spoke in front of attendees and distributed a pamphlet containing the information from my film.  It was gratifying to see my work making a positive impact on the community."

According to one of the contest judges, Carr's essay was "strong on creativity, organization and writing.  He did an effective job of expressing his hard work, passion and determination to achieve his goal through furthering his education."  All essays are reviewed and judged on creativity, adherence to theme, organization, grammar, punctuation and spelling by Olive Garden and the Quill and Scroll Society of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Iowa.  

As Olive Garden's Pasta Tales grand prize winner, Carr receives a $2,500 savings bond, a trip with his family to New York City and dinner at the Olive Garden restaurant in Times Square.  Olive Garden also awarded winners in 12 grade categories.  Each of the grade winners receives a $500 savings bond and a family dinner at his or her local Olive Garden:

"Our Pasta Tales essay contest gets students thinking about their futures and provides them a platform to share their thoughts and dreams," said John Caron, Olive Garden's president.  "We commend all of the student participants on the ambition and enthusiasm conveyed in their essays.  We feel confident their futures are very bright and will be filled with success."

Full copies of the winning Pasta Tales essays are available upon request.

Olive Garden is the leading restaurant in the Italian dining segment with more than 750 restaurants, more than 88,000 employees and $3.3 billion in annual sales.  Olive Garden is a member of the Darden family of restaurants (NYSE: DRI), the world's largest company-owned and operated full-service restaurant company.  For more information, visit Olive Garden's website at www.olivegarden.com.

SOURCE Olive Garden