2008 New York Auto Show: Student Journalist Contest

I asked Brady how he got the car bug and this is what he had to say:

"I've been interested in cars in one way or another since infancy, when some of my first toys were Matchbox cars. In my crib, I would sleep with little metal cars instead of the soft, furry, stuffed animals that were probably less dangerous.

My mother taught me to read in part from nameplates ripped from cars at a local junkyard and I would read off names walking through parking lots. It wasn't long before I could identify most cars on sight.

When I was 9 or 10 years old, I stumbled upon a huge collection of Consumer Reports annual auto issues in my grandmother's basement and devoured them. No one had ever told me that one car was better than another before, except that luxury cars were nice and the kind of cars my parents always owned were not. It was a real eye-opener.

Not long afterward, I started subscribing to various car magazines so I could get constant updates rather than waiting a whole year for the new CR guide. And when our family finally joined the rest of the world and got Internet access, a wealth of information became available to me.
 
For the past few years, I've continued to absorb every bit of car news and every car review I could find. My favorite thing to do is to help someone pick out a new car, which I have done for my parents, my grandmother and several family friends. I think that's my calling in life: to interpret the auto market for people who don't already understand it fully."

Well, Brady will be getting the chance at the New York show. As Inside Line's student journalist, Brady will be attending press conferences, hobnobbing with other writers, reporting on several cars and giving his general impressions of the event.

Stay tuned for more New York auto show coverage from Brady Holt.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor