Page 2 / News, Trends, Gossip and Stuff To Do : Express Yourself : Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen

Hasbro is looking for a few good men--or women--to become real-life G.I. Joes.

To help mark Joe’s 35th birthday, the toy company is sponsoring an essay contest to choose 35 adults who embody the doll’s “spirit of honor, courage, respect, service and good clean fun.”

That probably eliminates anyone from Congress or the White House, but all other Americans at least 18 years old are eligible. Contestants don’t even need to resemble G.I. Joe to win, which is fortunate, considering that he sports a scar on his right cheek, wears plastic hair and--if the Extreme model of his body were life-size--flexes 26-inch biceps, bigger than any bodybuilder in history.

Instead, entrants merely need to explain, in no more than 100 words, why they or the person they’re nominating possess the character and values of Joe.

Prizes include a 35th-anniversary-edition Ford Mustang, 35 grants of $1,000 to a charity or community service organization, a G.I. Joe doll sculpted to resemble the grand-prize winner and assorted Joe merchandise.

For more details, visit Joe’s Web site at https://www.gijoe.com/. Or enter the contest by printing on a 3-by-5 card the name, address, daytime phone and age of both the essay writer and the person being nominated, and then attach it to the essay and mail it to: The Search for the Real-Life Spirit of G.I. Joe Contest, P.O. Box 1130, Young America, MN 55594-1130. Entries must be postmarked by Sept. 15.