Washington — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) today announced the winner of the grand prize in the “Rabbit Ears Pioneers” contest.

Gwynne K. Richards, a seventh- and eighth-grade teacher, won the contest with an entry in the voice of her 35-year-old Zenith Chromacolor television set. She described the set as “simple and definitely built to last.”

The “Rabbit Ears Pioneers” contest is designed to encourage over-the-air television viewers to prepare now for the nation’s transition to digital television on Feb. 17, 2009. Richards won a high-definition home-entertainment center with surround-sound audio, along with a Zenith digital-to-analog converter box and an RCA digital reception antenna.

Semifinalists in the Rabbit Ears Pioneers contest were JoNancy Linn Sundberg of Hot Springs Village, Ark.; Cara Lustik and Tracey Huffman of Queens, N.Y.; and Carol Barlow of Duluth, Ga. The essays were judged by an independent panel of journalists, said CEA.