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Teacher wins £7,600 for simply reading the small print

Donelan Andrews claimed the prize 23 hours after the contest began.
Donelan Andrews claimed the prize 23 hours after the contest began. Donelan Andrews claimed the prize 23 hours after the contest began.

The terms and conditions are often overlooked, but what if it gave you the chance to win more than £7,000?

Lucky teacher Donelan Andrews won a top secret prize of 10,000 US dollars (£7,600) when she read the small print of an insurance policy.

Buried in the text was the promise that the first person to send an email to a specific address would be the winner.

Florida travel insurance company Squaremouth said it ran the competition to highlight the importance of reading policy information.

It added that Ms Andrews, a consumer economics teacher from Georgia, claimed the prize 23 hours after the contest began.

Following the contest, which was expected to run for a year, Squaremouth donated an additional 10,000 dollars to children’s literacy charity Reading Is Fundamental.

Ms Andrews said the prize will fund a trip to Scotland with her husband to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary (Squaremouth/PA)
Ms Andrews said the prize will fund a trip to Scotland with her husband to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary (Squaremouth/PA) Donelan Andrews said the prize will fund a trip to Scotland with her husband to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary (Squaremouth/PA)

It also made surprise donations of 5,000 dollars (£3,805) each to the two high schools where she teaches.

Ms Andrews said: “Teaching students to read their contracts has always been close to my heart because of my consumer economics background.

“I always read every contract I sign. It really paid off for me this time!”

She plans to use the prize money to fund a trip to Scotland with her husband to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.