By knowing about Denny Chimes and Bryant-Denny Stadium, five UA students won a $300 book scholarship for the fall semester through a DegreeWorks promotional trivia contest.

The UA students are: Leah Tucker of Hoover, James Watson of Birmingham, Marie Bridges of Mobile, Samuel Dotson of Concord, N.C., and Joseph Murray of Camp Hill, Pa.

DegreeWorks allows students to plan their classes for the next semesters, calculate their grade point average and keep track of the classes that will be required for graduation.

The trivia contest happened at the end of last semester and served as another promotional tool for DegreeWorks among the host of other things they are doing to market the program to students.

Murray, a sophomore majoring in physics, said the contest question was to name two campus landmarks named after George Denny, the first president of the University.

“The scholarship has been very helpful to take a decent amount out of what I had to pay for books,” he said.

Michael George, UA registrar, said, “We could not have a drawing because of the regulations against that so we worked with the archivists to find a trivia question that we felt students would know or be able to find the answer to quickly.”

He said the question was simple and did not put any one particular group of students at a disadvantage.

“DegreeWorks launched June 2009,” George said. “Given this was the first trivia contest, I feel it was successful.”

There have been several promotion efforts for the program such as T-shirts and signage on CrimsonRide buses.

“The signs will be on the buses throughout May 2011,” he said.

George said the emphasis is for students to use DegreeWorks before advising sessions to keep track of required courses.

Murray said, “Granted that books are so much money, the scholarship was really helpful.”

George said the program gave a small incentive for more students to participate in the contest, and it was an extra $300 to help them with books for the next semester.

The students are each awarded the money once they checkout at the SUPe Store.

Murray said DegreeWorks has been very helpful to him in organizing the credits he had upon arriving at the University.

“I came here with a lot of advanced credit hours, and DegreeWorks helps me to see what classes I need to take and what I need to do to get done,” he said. “With my credits and knowing what I have to take, I will be able to graduate early.”

Leah Tucker, a junior majoring in visual journalism and fashion retailing, said she was relieved to has received one of the scholarships.

“I had to answer a trivia question that was sent via e-mail to all students last semester, and I was notified within the week that I had won,” she said.

She said the scholarship paying for her books gave her a little extra spending money for the semester.

“I think that it is great that the University is doing this to give back to just the average student,” she said.