The medallion has been found!

Thank you for your participation. See you again next year.

Leigh Ann Johnson, a passionate puzzle fan from Madison Valley, solved her biggest puzzle of all Oct. 22 in winning the UW Alumni Association’s third annual Emerald City Search.

Johnson followed clues developed by UW researchers and published in The Seattle Times to find the secret medallion, which was hidden behind a rock near the wading pool at Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill.

According to the Times, Johnson had been Googling and searching after work, sometimes out as late as 2 a.m. with a flashlight.

"I've barely slept," she said. "But it's worth it."

Johnson, an equipment developer for REI, says she’ll donate part of her winnings to the frog conservation efforts associated with this year’s Emerald City Search theme: "The Year of the Frog."

Johnson won $2,500 in cash and prizes. Click here to read The Seattle Times article on Johnson’s big discovery.

About the Year of the Frog

Frogs and other amphibians are in severe decline in the Northwest and all over the world. Habitat destruction, a deadly parasitic fungus and other environmental threats may already have eradicated as many as 165 amphibian species. During 2008, Woodland Park Zoo joins the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in a globally coordinated public awareness campaign "The Year of the Frog." The main goal of this campaign is to generate public awareness and understanding of the amphibian extinction crisis which represents the greatest species conservation challenge in the history of humanity.

The Emerald City Search, developed to underscore the significance of experiential learning and the contributions of UW's renowned faculty to the community, is a partnership between the University of Washington's College of Arts & Sciences, the Hillel Foundation and UW Alumni Association, and in cooperation with The Seattle Times and Woodland Park Zoo.

Thank you to Playmasons, Architects of Fun for their creative and invaluable assistance in creating this year's Emerald City Search.