Texting Champ's Strength Was Pressure

Kate Moore, 15, Wins $50,000 And Title Of LG U.S. National Texting Champion

(CBS)  On Tuesday, Kate Moore, a 15-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, won $50,000 and the title of LG U.S. National Texting Champion. She joined Early Show co-anchors, Maggie Rodriguez and Dave Price to talk about her big win.

According to Moore, 250,000 people from around the country competed for the title. Twenty-two people faced off in the final two-day marathon of games and the top three finalists this year were all teenage girls, ages 14 and 15.

Having the fastest thumbs in the world paid off - $50,000 worth.

"Your dad now is pleased that he got you that unlimited texting plan," Price said.

"I would be extremely in debt if I did not have unlimited texting. So, thank you, dad," Moore said.

Moore's winning text was "Zippity Dooo Dahh Zippity Ayy... My oh MY, what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine Comin' my way... ZippittyDooDah ZippityAay! WondeRful feeling, Wonderful day!"

"It was under a minute. I don't know the exact time," Moore said. "Not only just that phrase, you notice there were different letters, randomly shifted. So we had to be sure. If you had a lower case 'a' when it was supposed to be upper case, that counted as a typo. You have to really focus on what you were doing."

It's not just speed and accuracy that is tested; nowadays the test consists of the ability to text blind-folded and under pressure, as well as the knowledge of texting lingo.

Moore says her best event was texting under pressure.

"You would come out as one person. You had three people whose job was to distract you," Moore explained. "They would be screaming in your ear and screaming in your ear, singing and dancing and stuff.

"I'm used to texting with distractions. That was my easiest round. I did really good in that round. That was my favorite."

The audience tried to distract Moore as she texted the alphabet, blind-folded while being timed, but she still did a great job.

Moore tested Rodriguez and Price's texting lingo.

"One of the words that not much us competitors actually knew, do you know what P.A.W. stands for?" Moore asked.

"P.A.W., Pass a wipe? Price said.

"It's actually 'parents are watching,'" Moore said.

Moore also said "F2F" is 'face to face'" and "TFFN is "ta ta for now," which Price guessed correctly.

"See I am old, but I am hip," Price joked.

[posthastekthnx]

Quote from story:
"Moore also said "F2F" is 'face to face'" and "TFFN is "ta ta for now," which Price guessed correctly."

Incorrectly states "ta ta for now" as "TFFN". This should be "TTFN"