68 New York City Students Win $120,000 in Bertelsmann Foundation's World of Expression Scholarship Program

68 New York City Students Win $120,000 in Bertelsmann Foundation's World of Expression Scholarship Program

Doubleday Author Myla Goldberg President and Publisher, Random House Children's Books Chip Gibson Will Present Scholarship Awards to First-Place Literature Winners

Bertelsmann Foundation's 2005 World of Expression Awards Ceremony will be held at The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University, Wednesday, June 8, 2004 at 7:30 p.m.

NEW YORK, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Bertelsmann's World of Expression Scholarship Program, in a unique collaboration among the Bertelsmann Foundation, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT and Random House, Inc., will hand out more than $120,000 in scholarships to New York City public high school seniors on June 8th in Manhattan. The scholarships are awarded on the basis of music composition and creative writing competitions. Students compete in short story, drama, poetry, personal essay, vocal, or instrumental expression categories. Entries are judged on style, form, and content and each submission is given individual consideration through a multi-level selection process.

This year, more than 1,200 entries were received from 65% of New York City's public high schools. The winning high school seniors, their families, teachers and music and publishing industry leaders will be joined on June 8th by Doubleday's Myla Goldberg, author of the widely acclaimed novel Bee Season and the forthcoming Wickett's Remedy, and President and Publisher of Random House Children's Books Chip Gibson, both of whom are presenting awards.

The evening will be highlighted with readings and performances from World of Expression winners, including several $10,000 recipients. The 2005 first place winners are Gabriel Beltrone from LaGuardia High School music/instrumental; Jennie Harney from LaGuardia High School for music/vocal; Danicu Tiu for literature/poetry and David Jiang for literature/personnel essay, both from Hunter College High School, and Alicia Walters from Edward R. Murrow High School.

Since 1992, more than one million dollars have been awarded to students and their schools by Bertelsmann's World of Expression.

Melanie Fallon-Houska, Director of the World of Expression Program said, "The World of Expression Awards were founded to stimulate expression and creativity in students by encouraging them to pursue and develop their music and literary talents. Students enjoy participating in our program because they are given the freedom to speak from their heart and submit songs and stories on any topic in any style. The entries and winners are as diverse as the city they represent. My Bertelsmann colleagues and I are proud of their accomplishments and inspired by their creativity."

Judging the literature categories were: Bonnie Ammer, Executive Vice President and Publisher at Large, Random House Worldwide; Janet Hill, Vice President & Executive Editor Doubleday Broadway Publishing,; Richard Hoehler, Actor, Writer and Teaching Artist; Don Linder, Fiction and Travel Writer; Sara Nelson, Editor-in-Chief, Publishers Weekly; Evie Polesny, Educator, Actor and Teaching Artist; Michelle Poploff, Vice President & Editorial Director, Knopf, Delacorte & Dell; Alice Quinn, Poetry Editor, The New Yorker; Mike Romanos, Poet's House; Barbara Rothenberg, NYC Association of Principals Supervising English; Nita Taublib, Deputy Publisher, Bantam Dell Publishing; Isabel Warren-Lynch, Executive Director of Art and Design, Knopf, Delacorte & Dell Books for Young Readers.

Judging the music categories: Susan Alicea, Singer/Songwriter, Teacher, & '96 WOE Music Winner; Thomas Bellino, Director, Planet Arts; Toni Cheeseman, Membership, ASCAP; Daniel Guss, Senior Director, Catalog Development, BMG Classics; Jerome Korman, Musical Director, Producer, Composer and Teaching Artist; Brian Muni, NYC Correspondent, American Songwriter Magazine; Adam Epstein, Creative Manager, BMG Music Publishing; Michael Polesny, Composer, Singer, Guitarist; Raheem, Original Member Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; Frank Vinci, Songwriter.

Bertelsmann Foundation was established in 1977 by Reinhard Mohn, a fifth-generation descendant of Bertelsmann's founder, to develop and implement strategies and models that help solve urgent problems in society. Bertelsmann is home to Random House, Inc., the world's largest general trade book publisher; SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, a global recorded music joint venture with a roster of current artists that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars; and FremantleMedia, a television production division, whose shows include hits like American Idol. Distinguished artists and authors under the Bertelsmann umbrella include The Dave Matthews Band, Britney Spears, R. Kelly, John Grisham, Toni Morrison, Dan Brown, John Irving, and John Updike. For more about Bertelsmann's World of Expression Scholarship Program, please visit our website at http://www.worldofexpression.org/.

For booklet or CD featuring the work of this year's winners call the WOE hotline at 1-888-369-3434.

Source: Bertelsmann Foundation

CONTACT: Melanie Fallon-Houska, +1-212-782-8319 Office, +1-267-251-0882 Cell, mfallon-houska@randomhouse.com, or Liz Young, +1-212-782-1120, both for Bertelsmann Foundation

Web site: http://www.worldofexpression.org/

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