If you're over 20, you're already doomed, says intrepid Wired reporter Neil Janowitz of his attempt to compete in the National Texting Championship. Three hundred entrants competed for $25K in New York City, and the 21-year-old reigning West Coast champ was eventually defeated by newer blood—a 13-year-old.
Eli Tirosh was defeated when she tried to text the first lines of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins. She finished first, but made a minor misspelling. Her youthful competitor pulled it off perfectly. The author of the article himself was outmatched in the first round. (More National Texting Championship stories.)