Tiny Gibsons, BC, is currently in the lead to be named the ‘Harry-est town in Canada’ thanks to local readers’ enthusiastic response to a new contest from Amazon.ca. The promo team at the Canadian equivalent of Seattle-based online bookseller Amazon.com just came up with a novel way of spurring both excitement about the upcoming instalment of the ‘Harry Potter novels and brisk pre-orders.

The concept is akin to a civic horse race with every Canadian city and town whose population tops 5,000 being invited to compete. The prize is a $5,000 Amazon.ca gift certificate for donation to a charitable organization – plus the quirky honour of being named the ‘Harry-est’ town in the country.

The winning community will be the one whose citizens pre-order the largest number of copies of J.K. Rowling’s final tome, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by the time it debuts on July 15. The competition is being tracked at www.amazon.ca/harrypotter.