Text your way to $25,000 in cash and prizes

LG Canada has announced further details on its 2nd annual LG Canadian Texting Championship finals, to be held in Toronto this Monday, June 29, at Yonge-Dundas Square. If you're in the area, it might just pay off to drop in and show off your texting skills.

First, the bad news: All but one of the more than 20,000 Canadians who registered for the final texting competition has already been selected, following two months of preliminary trials and online competitions. Finalists from Ontario, British Columbia, the Midwest and Eastern regions are meeting up on Monday to via for up to $25,000 in cash and prizes, including a $5,000 trip for two from Breakaway Tours and a gorgeous Tissot watch.
 
And now the good news: If you consider yourself nimble with your thumbs, one walk-on spot will be determined the morning of the event. Simply show up between 9am and 1:45am to take a final spot — by texting a phrase faster than anyone else on an LG QWERTY phone such as the LG Neon, LG Dare, LG Keybo, LG Xenon, LG Rumour series, LG Reveal or LG Voyager. You can also win some other prizes, too, even if you don't make it to the final competition.

The finals kick off at noon, hosted by the "World's Sexiest Comedian," Nicole Arbour, who also hosted last year's event.

Wrapping up the LG Canadian Texting Championship is a live performance by trendy electro-pop band, The New Cities.

The LG Canadian Texting Championship is free and open to the general public. Canadian cell phone carriers will also be onsite with new products, including Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, Telus, Fido and Koodo.

Update: Kathy Spence (pictured above), from Scarborough, Ontario, has been named the country's Texting Champion today at the LG Electronics Canada event at Yonge-Dundas Square, in downtown Toronto. The ecstatic 16 year-old received $25,000 in cash and prizes from LG's Pat Button, VP of mobile products at LG Electronics Canada. Way to go, Kathy, now go home and ice those thumbs.