The University of Florida Gators are National Champions again this year and now a UF student has won free ethanol-enriched fuel for a year.

University of Florida student Joshua Nicdao won the Ethanol Challenge grand prize, valued at $1300, as part of the 2008 Fox Tailgate Tour. The contest was sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) to help promote the economic and environmental benefits of ethanol to football fans and college students across the country.

“I still can’t believe I won. When I registered for free ethanol fuel for a year, I never thought I’d win,” said Nicdao. “As a student, having a year’s worth of ethanol will be a huge help to me financially, and it’s great that ethanol also helps environmentally.”

The Fox Tailgate Tour visited the University of Florida campus in October 2008 for the LSU vs. UF game where Nicdao participated in the ethanol challenge and entered to win the grand prize.

Officials with EPIC, which recently became part of the newly-formed Growth Energy organization, said they received thousands of entries for the contest and were pleased with their involvement in the tour to help promote ethanol.