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Friday, September 18th, 1998 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Disney Channel Rolls Out Third Annual Create Story Magic Campaign In a search for tomorrow's storytellers, Disney Channel, through its Create Story Magic campaign is once again challenging kids ages six through 12 nationwide to compete for having his/her original story turned into a cartoon animated by The Walt Disney Company. This integrated marketing and educational initiative involves promotional partnerships with Target Stores and Disney Press and is supported by Cable in the Classroom and local cable affiliates. The writing contest began on Sept. 16, 1998, and entries will be accepted through Dec. 31, 1998. "Create Story Magic underscores Disney Channel's commitment to an active, valuable relationship with kids and families," stated Adam Sanderson, vice president, marketing, Disney Channel. "We are very pleased to partner with Target and Disney Press to inspire the creativity and imagination of kids across the country." Target Stores, the official retail headquarters for the Create Story Magic Contest, will distribute entry forms and feature in-store merchandising at over 800 stores nationwide. The contest will also be featured in Target's Sunday circular on Sept. 20, 1998. For the first time, entries will be accepted through the Create Story Magic website at www.storymagic.com. All entries received will be judged by an independent panel of teachers/educators, and the grand prize winner will be selected by Disney animators. The winning entry will be turned into an animated short by The Walt Disney Company and will air on Disney Channel and Toon Disney. The grand prize winner will also be awarded a family vacation for four to Disneyland and to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif. Five finalists will each receive one full-color illustration of their original stories, and Disney Press will provide $500 in books to each of the finalists' school libraries. Students To Report Worldwide for New CNN Student Bureau CNN and Turner Learning, the educational division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., will provide an opportunity for young journalists around the world through a new initiative called the CNN Student Bureau (CNN SB). The announcement of the CNN Student Bureau was made as part of U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley's annual America Goes Back to School initiative. CNN SB will offer students across the world the chance to publish their written and video work internationally on CNN NEWSROOM, the commercial-free, news and features program for schools which airs on CNN. The reports also will run on the Turner Learning Website, on cable affiliates' access channels and, potentially, on the networks of the CNN News Group. Participation in CNN SB will be open to high schools and universities worldwide. News reports submitted to CNN SB from students may be regional, national or global in scope. Students will receive assignments from a Turner Learning assignment editor through the Website, and their stories will be reviewed by a Turner Learning producer who edits, fact checks and works within the CNN system to determine a story's use and purpose. Selected Website stories will be posted on the Turner Learning website for students' and educators' use. Selected video stories also will be pitched to CNN producers for their review and possible use. In cooperation with cable partners around the world, the CNN SB will operate in high schools either as an in-school program integrated into the journalism, english or history departments; as an inter-disciplinary program; or as a club. At the university level, CNN SB will work with mass communications and journalism departments. Schools and institutions may apply through their local cable operators for enrollment as a student bureau. Technology Conference Brings Together Industry Leaders and Journalists Dell Computer Corp. founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell will deliver the keynote address at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers Inc. (SABEW) second conference devoted to technology. Dell will speak Oct. 8 in Austin, Texas, about how Dell Computer intends to become the No. 1 seller of personal computers in the world. In additon, the following industry leaders are scheduled to appear: -- Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang -- Enrico Pesatori, senior vice president of corporate marketing at Compaq Computer Corp. -- Richard Garriott, founder and head of Origin Systems, the maker of Ultima Online -- Avie Tevanian, chief technologist at Apple Computer Inc. -- Joe Aragona, Austin Ventures general partner "This is an opportunity for you to give yourself or your staffer(s) a quick education that should help add depth and context to your coverage," said Susan Wells, SABEW president and assistant managing editor for business at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Technology is like business news used to be. Lots of people run away from it because they think they don't understand it. From a journalistic standpoint, that is not an unreasonable fear. There is an awful lot to know," Wells added. The conference starts Wednesday, Oct. 7, with Peter Winter, president of Cox Interactive Media. No conference would be complete without a few sessions where members of the working press talk shop and swap tales. This year, Dan Gillmor from the San Jose Mercury News is leading a panel discussion on how to cover technology without sounding like a geek; Scott Clark of the Houston Chronicle will demonstrate how to use the Internet for research; and Herb Greenberg of TheStreet.com will show how to look at a company's financials to tell if they are for real. On Friday, tours of the clean room at Samsung; Dell's assembly plant; Motorola's Oak Hill facility; Applied Material's manufacturing plant; Design Edge, an industrial design shop; and SBC's Technology Resources Inc. research lab are available. For more details about the conference, visit SABEW's World Wide Web site at www.sabew.org. The Society of American Business Editors and Writers, with headquarters at the Missouri School of Journalism, is an association of more than 2,900 business journalists across the nation. Formed in 1964 to promote superior coverage of business and economic events and issues, it is the only business journalism association for editors and writers. Petersen Companies, Inc. Acquires Diving Magazines Continuing in its acquisition strategy in special interest publishing, The Petersen Companies, Inc., has acquired the assets of Watersport Publishing, which publishes Discover Diving, Dive Report and Discover Diving Expositions, which includes three major consumer dive shows. James D. Dunning, Jr., Chairman, CEO and President of The Petersen Companies, Inc. said, "This supplemental acquisition adds to Petersen's Skin Diver Marine Group which is the market leader in the world of recreational diving, reaching more that one million active scuba divers." Discover Diving is a bimonthly publication with a successful 17-year history in sport diving development. It is best known for its detailed articles and equipment reviews on underwater photography as well as its coverage of shipwreck diving and exploration. Dive Report is the industry's most successful and best read trade publication. Published bimonthly for the past five years, this publication is expanding its frequency to ten issues in 1999. Discover Diving Expositions is the dive show development group which has created and produced exceptionally successful consumer dive shows in Atlanta, GA, Santa Clara, CA and has recently added Dallas, TX to its venues. Ken Loyst, founder of Watersport Publishing, will join the Petersen Companies and continue to operate and develop dive shows and dive industry publications for Petersen. He will be working with Paul Tzimoulis, Vice President and Executive Publisher of the Skin Diver Marine Group. Loyst added, "Dive Report, Discover Diving and Discover Diving expositions are poised for significant growth and continued excellence. In order to achieve their fullest potential, the publications and shows need a corporate parent that can provide additional capital and publishing efficiencies. Petersen with Skin Diver, is a perfect fit." Leading Authorities, Inc. Launches New Website Featuring Over 600 Speakers Online Leading Authorities, Inc., a resource for keynote speakers has announcd a new web site, http://www.leadingauthorities.com. The site launched September 10. This new site presents meeting planners and people looking for speakers with a new alternative to the traditional way of finding speakers. The site has a searchable database of over 600 speakers on-line. It gives people the option to search by speaker name, topic, geographic location, and fee. The site also supplies people with the option to preview hundreds of speakers using RealVideo. Through the use of today's top technology, visitors of the site will be able to preview speakers. "We are proud to present the all new www.leadingauthorities.com," said Mark French, president - Leading Authorities, Inc. "We realize that finding a speaker is only part of the meeting planning process, and have developed this site in an effort to help increase our clients efficiency and productivity when searching for speakers." Leading Authorities, Inc. is one of the world's largest speakers bureaus and an industry leader. Some of the celebrities and authorities represented by Leading Authorities include Former President George Bush, Senator Bob Dole, Representative Pat Schroeder, sports legends Rick Pitino and Mike Singletary, and business authors, Tom Peters and Oren Harari. PBS Relaunches Kids WebSite PBS Online has unveiled a revised PBS Kids! Web neighborhood, featuring several new sites from PBS's renowned children's programs, and a host of original content created specifically for the Web. Among the new Web areas are those for Arthur, Barney & Friends and Noddy, the newest addition to PBS's kids show lineup. To mark the occasion, PBS Kids! will host a series of online Q&As with Arthur creator Marc Brown (Sept. 16 - 18), Reading Rainbow's LeVar Burton (Sept. 21 - 25), Kratt's Creatures hosts Chris and Martin Kratt (Sept. 28 - Oct. 2) and Mister Rogers himself, Fred Rogers (Oct. 5 - 9). In addition, young Web surfers will be able to take part in a back-to- school scavenger hunt amidst PBS Kids!' 5,000+ Web pages. First prize: a one-week stay, including room and board, at an American Computer Experience (ACE) Computer Camp. More than 100 other prizes will also be given away. The redesigned PBS Kids! will help kids write stories, compose their own songs, tell jokes and discover answers to puzzling questions. Site visitors can also access the official websites and related activities for their favorite PBS children's television programs. Cindy Johanson, vice president, PBS Online, said, "We want PBS Kids! to be the 'can-do' site for children from preschool to age 14. PBS makes children's educational needs a top priority, and we consulted subject matter experts, educators, parents and children in the site's design and production process." Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter.  www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
