The University of Wisconsin was named America's Top Party School"" Friday, as the final round of a Chicago-based newspaper's online competition came to a close.
The outcome was published in the weekend edition of Chicago Tribune's RedEye newspaper.
The month-long competition, sponsored by RedEye, involved a March Madness-like tournament bracket where students and alumni voted to keep their school going head-to-head with another college in subsequent rounds.
On its climb to the top, UW-Madison was matched up against Ohio State University, Indiana University, University of Illinois, University of Georgia and Ohio University for the championship.
According to RedEye's website, Wisconsin beat Ohio University in the title match with a final tally of 35,116 votes to 17,006 votes.
""I was amazed by Wisconsin's turnout,"" Jimmy Greenfield, RedEye web editor, said via e-mail. ""Some students started a Facebook group that really spearheaded all the voting.""
Steve Pulec, a UW-Madison freshman, started one such Facebook group when he first heard about the competition.
""I feel very happy that Wisconsin has won and once again reclaimed its title on top of the party school list,"" Pulec said. ""I was very pleased to see so many people voting and supporting our school.""
According to Greenfield, more people voted in the final round of the competition than the beginning, but he said he was not surprised Wisconsin came out on top.
""I think Wisconsin's students and the OU students - both pretty active throughout the tourney - knew they were facing stiff competition,"" he said. ""The trash talk on our message boards really showed how much everyone got into the title match.""
Pulec said he increased the amount of times a day he voted through subsequent rounds of the competition.
""I also made sure to check the website a lot on the last day of each round to make sure that our opponent wasn't trying to make a last second comeback,"" he said.
Greenfield said RedEye plans to have the same competition next year.
""I can promise you Wisconsin won't be a No. 4 seed next year,"" he said.
