2003 HGTV Dream Home Press Release

LAKE CITY, Penn. (March 12, 2003) — John Groszkiewicz (GROSS-KEV-ITCH) was pulling on his coat to step outside and scrape the windshield of his car before dropping the kids at school on his way to work. It was another frigid morning just off the banks of frozen Lake Erie.

The thaw began with the ring of his doorbell a few minutes after 7 a.m. That's when Groszkiewicz, his wife Karen and their four children learned that they are the winner of the 2003 HGTV Dream Home Giveaway—a $1 million custom-built, fully-furnished designer home near sun-drenched Mexico Beach, Fla., complete with a 2003 GMC Envoy XL parked in the garage.

Groszkiewicz' name was drawn from more than 28.1 million entries that Home & Garden Television (HGTV) received in this year's sweepstakes, more than doubling the 11.2 million entries of 2002.

"I'm ready for warmer weather; I'm so tired of the cold," said Groszkiewicz, a 41 year-old native of Western Pennsylvania, where this year's snowfall total stands at 118 inches.

A computer programmer for a local valve and fitting manufacturer, Groszkiewicz had never entered the HGTV promotion before this year. After watching the Dream Home special with his wife Karen on HGTV, he went straight to his computer to enter online. He eventually entered 18 more times.

"We watch all the time. When we get the kids to bed, the first thing we do is turn on HGTV," said Karen Groszkiewicz. "But we never thought we'd win."

The couple's favorite aspect of the home is the outdoor Jacuzzi, which will be perfect in the warm Florida climate.

The Groszkiewiczs have never been further south than North Carolina, much less to Florida, but they will be traveling to the home in Mexico Beach, Fla. in mid-April to tour their new home in person. He says he may have to take a few fishing lessons before making the trip to fully enjoy his winnings, which includes two acres of natural woodlands with a shoreline and private boat dock on East Bay.

Joan Steffend, host of the annual, one-hour HGTV Dream Home television special, delivered the good news to the family. Karen Groszkiewicz answered the door to find the popular HGTV personality and a TV crew standing on her front porch.

"Surprising the winner is the most fun I have had in years," said Steffend. "I love changing people's lives."

This is the seventh annual HGTV Dream Home Giveaway. Surpassing 28 million entries—including a record 873,993 entries in a single day—the six-week event it is believed to be the biggest sweepstakes on television.

"That's a pretty strong indication that people still want to have their hopes and dreams," said Burton Jablin, president of HGTV. "The annual Dream Home Giveaway is the perfect representation of what HGTV stands for—giving our viewers, or in this case one lucky viewer—the ultimate living space that all of us dream of having some day."

The home was built by the St. Joe Company, with sponsors including GMC, Ethan Allen, Whirlpool, Lumber Liquidators, Bissell and Georgia-Pacific.

About Home & Garden Television
America's leader in home and gardening programming, HGTV is now distributed to more than 80 million households, making it one of the fastest-growing networks in cable TV history. HGTV's website, HGTV.com, is America's leading online destination for home and garden information, with original stories and projects straight from the experts. Visitors can search more than 35,000 projects online.

About Scripps Networks
Scripps Networks is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP), a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television, national television networks, interactive media and plans to enter the television-retailing market. Scripps operates 21 daily newspapers, 10 broadcast TV stations and four cable television networks. Most recently, the company acquired the Shop At Home television-retailing network. Scripps also operates Scripps Howard News Service, United Media, the worldwide licensing and syndication.