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Helen Morris Connors Communications 612-359-0990 helen@connors.com

ThinkQuest(R) Honors Student Web Creation Excellence During Third Annual Awards Weekend

43 Awards Totaling $1.2 Million are Given to Student Teams from 18 Countries

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 23, 1998 - At a gala ceremony in Los Angeles tonight, ThinkQuest(R) bestowed 43 awards on teams of students who participated in the third annual ThinkQuest Internet Challenge. A philanthropic and educational initiative created by Advanced Network & Services, Inc., the ThinkQuest Internet Challenge honored teams from all over the world with scholarships and awards totaling more than $1.2 million.

The ThinkQuest Internet Challenge is an annual program that invites groups of students to work together to create a highly interactive, well-researched Web site on an educational topic of interest to them. These teams work for more than eight months to gather data, conduct research, learn about the Internet as an educational medium and build educationally rich sites. The winners have passed through an extensive judging process, including face-to-face interviews, to reach this final awards event.

The gala ceremony topped off the Third Annual ThinkQuest Awards Weekend, which brought together the 34 finalist teams from 18 countries for an educational and networking experience, and perhaps most importantly, final judging of their Web site entries. During the weekend, Internet Society members who are leaders in the fields of education, science, technology and government judged the contestants and their entries. The initial application pool for this year's challenge involved 2,189 teams and 5,852 students from 64 countries. The winning entries will be prominently featured on the ThinkQuest Web site (www.thinkquest.org), where they can be viewed and used by millions of visitors and will become a permanent part of the ThinkQuest Web site library.

At the gala event, 25 awards were handed out across the content categories Arts & Literature, Science & Mathematics, Social Sciences, Sports & Health and Interdisciplinary. In addition, ThinkQuest announced the following special awards: the Design Award sponsored by Adobe; the Java Awards sponsored by Microsoft; the Collaboration Awards, which are given to teams with the greatest dissimilarities between their schools, cultural and technology backgrounds; the GEM Award, which honors a site has not been a finalist in any previous years competition, but has since been improved by the team and become very heavily used and the Best of Contest Award. The list of winners is attached to this release.

"The 1998 ThinkQuest winners represent the pinnacle of what our challenge supports-collaboration, investigation, and innovative, hands-on learning," said Allan H. Weis, president and CEO of Advanced Network & Services Inc. "We truly view our winners as the pioneers of educational and technological growth and thought in the coming millennium."

In conjunction with the Awards Weekend, ThinkQuest sponsored "Kids, Technology and the New Millennium," an educational technology summit designed for educators, parents and students. The three-day summit featured speakers such as Jaron Lanier, Lead Scientist, National Tele-immersion Initiative; Kathy Hurley, Vice President, The Learning Company School; and Dr. Nora Sabelli, Senior Program Director, National Science Foundation. In keeping with the international flavor of the weekend, government and private industry leaders from countries such as Egypt, South Africa, Chile, Japan and Germany shared perspectives about the state of education technology in their respective countries and the challenges they face in preparing their youth for the next millennium.

ThinkQuest is the largest and fastest-growing Internet-based education program in the world. Nearly 1,000 student-created Web sites have become part of its master site, which is maintained for use by educators, students, businesses, government agencies and citizens everywhere. The most heavily trafficked educational destination on the Internet, its subject matter ranges from Mars exploration to the physics of baseball to the plays of William Shakespeare. The challenge aims to encourage collaboration, leadership, critical thinking and help raise students' technological prowess.

Advanced Network & Services, Inc. was formed in September of 1990 as a nonprofit corporation dedicated to advancing education by accelerating the use of computer networking applications and technology. In February of 1995, Advanced Network & Services initiated several new programs in support of education and science. ThinkQuest is one of those programs. Advanced Network & Services also supports university research and development related to the advancement and the use of Internet applications and technologies such as Internet2, The National Tele-Immersion Initiative and Internet Performance Measurement. Advanced Network & Services can be contacted by visiting the ThinkQuest Web site at www.thinkquest.org or calling 914-765-1100.

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ThinkQuest 1998 Winners

Best of Contest
The Soundry
Fairfax Station, VA, USA
Clifton, VA, USA
Soldotna, AK, USA

Social Sciences
1st Place--Experience Cuba
Madison, WI, USA
Singapore

2nd Place--Electric Snow: TV in Our Time
Waipahu, HI, USA
Kapaa, HI, USA
Malmo, Skene, Sweden

3rd Place--Nicaragua in Perspective: History, Culture, Politics, Economics
Managua, Nicaragua
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

4th Place--World War II
Galesburg, IL, USA
Cameron, IL, USA
Amherst, NY, USA

5th Place--Lessons of War
Madison,WI, USA
Wangerland, Germany
Bassett, VA, USA

Special Recognition--True Values: Our National Heritage
St Peters, South Australia, Australia
Gilberton, South Australia, Australia
Bombay, Maharashtra, India

Sports and Health
1st Place--The Hidden Killers: Deadly Viruses
Waldorf, MD, USA
Cupertino, CA, USA
Los Altos, CA, USA

2nd Place--Tae Kwon Do--The Dream Becomes Reality
Sofia, Bulgaria

3rd Place--Driving Under the Influence
Reston, VA, USA
Alexandria, VA, USA

4th Place--Alternative Medicine Online
Smithtown, NY, USA
St. James, NY, USA

5th Place--Health Careers Resource Centers
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
Shrewsbury, MO, USA

Special Recognition--Are Mites Little Monsters which Threaten Your Health?
Eisenbach, BW, Germany
Aichwald, BW, Germany
Eger, Hungary

Math and Science
1st Place--Dolphins--The Oracles of the Sea
Wijk bij Duurstede, Utrecht, Netherlands
Lancaster, PA, USA
Singapore

2nd Place--Conceiving a Clone
Round Rock, TX, USA

3rd Place--Designer Genes
San Diego, CA, USA
Palmer, AK, USA
Warsaw, Poland

4th Place--Learn Programming with Logo
Berlin, Germany

5th Place--Energy Matters
Fairfax, VA, USA
McLean, VA, USA
Lima, Peru

Special Recognition--Generation 5: The Artificial Intelligence Repository
Chicago, IL, USA
Houston, TX, USA
Tokyo, Japan

Arts and Literature
1st Place--Totally Tessellated: An Introduction to Tessellations
Martinez, GA, USA
McLean, VA, USA
Palos Verdes Estates, CA, USA

2nd Place--Modern Masterworks
Clovis, CA, USA
Fresno, CA, USA

3rd Place--Music Magic: A Piano Exploration
Ithaca, NY, USA
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Provo, UT, USA

4th Place--A Reminiscence of the Nineties
Penang, Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

5th Place--Music Notes: An Interactive Musical Experience
Shrub Oak, NY, USA
Yorktown Heights, NY, USA

Special Recognition--Lit Cafe
Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
West Hempstead, NY, USA

Special Recognition--Altered Images
Kennett Square, PA, USA
Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Interdisciplinary Awards
1st Place--Volcanoes Online
Etten-Leur, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Yakima, WA, USA
Singapore

2nd Place--The Living Africa
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
Zelhem, Gelderland, Netherlands
West Lebanon, NH, USA

3rd Place--Death: An Inquiry into Man's Mortal Weakness
Creswick, Victoria, Australia
San Diego, CA, USA
Heerlen, Limburg, Netherlands

4th Place--Views on Cloning and Genetic Engineering
Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
Kijabe, Kenya
Langley, British Columbia, Canada

5th Place--La Casa de Comida
Ayr, Queensland, Australia
Giru, Queensland, Australia
Ingleburn, NSW, Australia

Special Recognition--The Global Gazette
Hingham, MA, USA
Harleysville, PA, USA
Hong Kong

Special Recognition--Rock Revolution
Waipahu, HI, USA
Estorp, Skene, Sweden

Design Award
Egypt World
Poway, CA, USA
San Antonio, TX, USA
Hirrlingen, Germany

Java Award
1st Place--Learn Programming with Logo
Berlin, Germany

2nd Place--The Soundry
Fairfax Station, VA, USA
Clifton, VA, USA
Soldotna, AK, USA

3rd Place--Driving Under the Influence
Reston, VA, USA
Alexandria, VA, USA

GEM Award
Leonardo Da Vinci
Mount Airy, NC, USA
Kennesaw, GA, USA

Collaboration Awards
Social Science--Nicaragua in Perspective: History, Culture, Politics, Economics
Managua, Nicaragua
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Sports and Health--Are Mites Little Monsters which Threaten your Health?
Eisenbach, BW, Germany
Aichwald, BW, Germany
Eger, Hungary

Math and Science--Designer Genes
San Diego, CA, USA
Palmer, AK, USA
Warsaw, Poland

Arts and Literature--Lit Cafe
Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
West Hempstead, NY, USA

Interdisciplinary--The Global Gazette
Hingham, MA, USA
Harleysville, PA, USA
Hong Kong