LLS Man and Woman of the Year contest comes to a close, winners to be announced tomorrow night

Each year, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) launches its Man and Woman of the Year race.  The contest, for a worthwhile cause--cancer research--requires contestants to hustle, hustle, hustle for LLS donations. In a mad dash to raise as much money as possible, this year's DC contestants overwhelmed (in a wonderfully positive way) the DMV with happy hours, restaurant specials and the like in an effort to get people out and spending, all in the name of charity.

The ten week-long contest came to a close this past week.  DC contestants chose different ways to culminate their campaigns.  Nicole Siobal, whose campaign, en.JOY, is dedicated to her late friend Joy who lost her battle to gastric cancer in 2006, hosted a final event at Co. Co. Sala, sponsored by Capitol File.  By the way, the event came together in a mere five days.  Don't ask us--we have no idea how she managed.  She just gets shit done.

Guests included Clinton Portis and Donovan McNabb, Becky's Fund founder Becky Lee, couturiers Ebong Eka and Matt Landsberg, and other DC characters and scenesters.  While the event featured a silent auction, the real crowning achievement was the not-so-silent date auction.  While LLS frowns upon citing actual bid amounts, we can confidently divulge that individual bids were in the multiple hundreds of dollars range.

Thanks to technical difficulties (a malfunctioning microphone) Nicole had to raise her voice, run through the crowd, and hop on the bar to get the attention of guests.  It worked!  After a little prodding, the crowd rallied and spent some big bucks for the kind souls who offered to sell their bodies for charity.

Tomorrow night, the contest will officially end when the winners are announced at the downtown Ritz.  The black-tie affair will include a cocktail hour, a silent auction, dinner, and of course, the awards ceremony.  Stay tuned for the final verdict!