Camarillo boy makes national debut
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

A WIZ AT WRITING- Daniel Boyce, a 12-year-old Camarillo resident, is interviewed by a reporter from MSNBC while on a recent trip to New York. The winner of a "Harry Potter" essay contest in 2003, Boyce spent a week in the Big Apple as part of a the release party for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the final book in the hugely popular series by author J.K. Rowling.

Daniel Boyce recently led the jet-set life of a celebrity.

The 12-year-old Camarillo resident flew to New York for a week of TV appearances and interviews. He appeared on "The Today Show," "The Early Show," Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and was interviewed for an MSNBC segment.

Daniel was also a dignitary at a release party for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the highly-anticipated final book in the series by Author J.K. Rowling.

He even attended the opening bell for NASDAQ.

This whirlwind week of activity all sprang from a winning essay Daniel wrote in 2003.

Daniel was a second grader at Dos Caminos Elementary who had read twice-over all of the Harry Potter books released up to that time. The 8-year-old entered and won an essay contest based on Rowling's thennewest release, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

The eighth child in a family of nine children, Daniel wrote of a magical potion that would cure his autistic 5-year-old sister, Suzie, of her fear of laughter and crowds.

His was one of 10 winning essays contest-sponsor Scholastic Corp. chose out of 12,000 submissions. Daniel and his mother, Nancy Boyce, flew to London to meet Rowling and listen to her read a portion of the book.

It took Daniel 15 minutes to write one version of his winning essay. Nancy said that impressed her after learning that some teenage winners wrote several rough drafts before entering their final work.

"I didn't ever think of writing another draft," Daniel said.

Fast forward to June 2007, when Daniel accepted an offer by Scholastic books to join a reunion of essay winners in New York.

When asked how he felt about being on TV, the boy of few words said he was excited but nervous only when he appeared on "The Today Show," where he played a Harry Potter trivia quiz with a few of the other essay winners. He was too tired to feel anything else for the other TV appearances, he said.

Daniel came home with oncein-a-lifetime memories and memorabilia. He was one of the first to receive a copy of the seventh and final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," with the illustrator's autograph.

"That 15-minute essay has certainly reaped us a lot of adventures," Nancy Boyce said.