NEW YORK, June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- ThinkQuest New York City, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing Internet technology to local schoolchildren, announced the winners of its annual Internet Challenge at its Team Awards and Recognition Event at the McGraw Hill Building on June 3rd. More than 1,000 New York City schoolchildren and educators from over 50 city schools participated in this year's competition, creating educational websites in categories including arts and literature, math and science, social sciences, interdisciplinary, and sports and health.

Andy Senor, Darryl Ordell and Philip Dorian McAdoo, cast members from the Broadway hit Rent presented awards to teams of students in each division earning first-place, second-place, third-place and outstanding website distinctions, in addition to their respective teacher-coaches and schools. Students on teams awarded first-place honors each received a laptop computer, coaches received a $1,000 gift certificate and their school received a $2,000 gift certificate. Students on teams awarded second-place honors each received a digital camera, coaches received a $500 gift certificate and their school received a $1,000 gift certificate. Students on teams awarded third-place honors each received a $100 gift certificate, coaches received a $250 gift certificate and their school received a $500 gift certificate. Student on teams awarded outstanding website distinction received a $100 gift certificate.

"This event marks the completion of a successful inaugural year for ThinkQuest in New York City," said Lisa Ernst, Executive Director of ThinkQuest New York City. "We are thrilled with the enthusiasm for learning that these local schoolchildren and educators have exhibited by participating in the ThinkQuest New York City Internet Challenge. We'd like to thank our generous supporters, especially the AOL/Time Warner Foundation, Mark and Anla Cheng Kingdon Family Foundation, and The Samberg Family Foundation for making this year's event possible."

The ThinkQuest New York City Internet Challenge is based upon the internationally acclaimed ThinkQuest Internet Challenge, which has brought online learning to over 100,000 children in more than 100 countries. ThinkQuest New York City's annual competition invites teams comprised of a maximum of six students in grades 4-12 to work together to create an interactive, well-researched website on an educational topic of interest to them. Under the guidance of teacher-coaches, teams work to gather data, conduct research, and learn about the Internet as an educational medium as they build educationally rich sites. Upon completion, the entries become a permanent part of the ThinkQuest New York City Web Library (www.tqnyc.org), and are available to teachers, students, and Internet users across the globe.

About ThinkQuest

ThinkQuest is the largest and fastest-growing Internet-based education program in the world, allowing students and teachers to work in teams to build high-quality educational websites on a variety of subjects. In the past six years, the ThinkQuest Library has grown to over 5,000 content-rich websites that are made freely available as learning tools via the ThinkQuest Library at www.thinkquest.org.

About ThinkQuest New York City

ThinkQuest New York City, inspired by the success of the International ThinkQuest Challenge, brings together learning and technology for students and educators at New York City schools. The organization launched the ThinkQuest New York City Coach training program in 2002. By the end of the 2002-2003 academic year, the regional program has trained over 200 educators, who in turn will bring the ThinkQuest program to schoolchildren throughout New York City's five boroughs. The program is supported in part with a grant from the AOL Time Warner Foundation and the Mark and Anla Cheng Kingdon Foundation. Additional information about ThinkQuest New York City can be found at www.tqnyc.org.

2003 THINKQUEST NEW YORK CITY INTERNET CHALLENGE WINNERS

The website finalists for the 2003 ThinkQuest New York City Internet Challenge can be viewed at http://www.tqnyc.org/finalists2003.php. All entries can be viewed in the ThinkQuest New York City Library at http://www.tqnyc.org/library/index.php.

     DIVISION I - 4th through 6th grades

     First Place Award
     New Rockets for NASA
     School:  Harry Eichler School
     Coach:  Mrs. Neme Alperstein
     Students:  Heman Howard, Manjinder Kandola, Singh Sandeep

     Second Place Award (tie)
     Poetry for All Ages
     School:  Harry Eichler School
     Coach:  Mrs. Neme Alperstein
     Students:  Kritika Chand, Kimberly David, Emilija Landsbergis,
     Jessica Lebron, Mariel Mejia, Ashley Newman

     Second Place Award (tie)
     Aviation During the Vietnam War
     School:  Harry Eichler School
     Coach:  Mrs. Neme Alperstein
     Students:  Eric Chen, Davindra Lall, Andrew Polyak

     Third Place Award
     Gods and Goddesses of Greek Mythology
     School:  East Village Community School
     Coach:  Mr. Bradley Goodman
     Students:  Josh Ashmall-Liversidge, Star Cotman, Yollyn DelaCruz,
     Daniel Mota, Arjuna Routte Prieur


     DIVISION II - 7th and 8th grades

     First Place Award
     CON < - > TEXTS:  'Reading' Migrations Through Art
     School:  Manhattan Academy Of Technology
     Coaches:  Mrs. Yadeline Dargenson-Lynch, Mr. Christopher S. Walsh
     Students:   Diana Chen, Jennifer Huang, Jack Lo, Xiu Mei Wu, Yuan Yuan

     Second Place Award
     Discovering Atlantis
     School:  Acsenion School
     Coach:  Ms. Antoinette Di Stasi
     Students:  Dino Butron, Camela Cruz, Marylle Pacina, Mary Perez, Stephen
     Silva, Gretchen Ty

     Third Place Award
     Surrounded by the Solar System
     School:  High School of Telecomm Arts and Tech
     Coach:  Ms. Talia Nochumson
     Students:  Sean Hallett, Steven Strong


     DIVISION III - 9th through 12th grades

     First Place Award
     Using The Conflict Resolution Approach to Analyze Literature
     School:  Murry Bergtraum High School for Business
     Coach:  Mrs. Bo Wu
     Students:  Alana Beck, Alexandra Beica, Monica Hernandez, Julia Ho,
     Rebecca Tisbe, Robin Yee

     Second Place Award
     New York Landmarks
     School:  Lower East Side Prep
     Coach:  Mr. Henry Ruan
     Students:  Guan Jinyu, Fanrong Kong, Guangye Liu,Yudong Qiu

     Third Place Award
     Laser Zone
     School:  Franklin D. Roosevelt High School
     Coach:  Nadine Bower
     Students:  Eva Csengeri, Leonid Mernenko, Boris Peck, Mohammad A.
     Shabbir, Mohammad U. Shabbir, Andrew Vanette

     ALL DIVISIONS - OUTSTANDING WEBSITE AWARD WINNERS

     Outstanding Website Award
     Mythology: The Facts of Fiction
     School:  Collegiate School
     Coaches:  Mr. Raymond Chambers, Mrs. Pamela Fitzgerald
     Students:  Daniel Rattner, Todd, Alex, Harrison, Paul

     Outstanding Website Award
     NYC4Kids
     School:  James M. Smith CS 200
     Coaches:  Mr. Michael Collins, Mrs. Veronica Wilson
     Students:  Thay Brown, Natalie Carr, Dalifet Hernandez, Terrell Holmes,
     Jaid Jones, Treneisha Morgan

     Outstanding Website Award
     Olde England
     School: Sarah Anderson
     Coaches: Ms. Rena Schklowsky, Dr. Brian Maci
     Students:  Anais DelSol, Emma Hartman, Diana Tive

     Outstanding Website Award
     Food Fest: A Cultural Adventure in Food
     School:  The Dalton School
     Coach:  Mrs. Roxanne Feldman
     Students:  Allison Flamberg, Katie Kornman, Parijat Samant,
     Cynthia Silverman

     Outstanding Website Award
     The Giver
     School:  The Dalton School
     Coaches:  Mr. Ben Lesch, Dr. Martha Edelson
     Students:  Elly Brinkley, Hannah Ehrenberg, Julia Cherston, Claudia
     Gelfond, Genevieve Nierman, Sophie Rouhandeh

     Outstanding Website Award
     Do you see what you think you see
     School:  Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament
     Coaches:  Mrs. Carol Chrusz, Miss Antoinette Di Stasi
     Students:  Erica Coston, Thomas Flores, Allen Fok, Cristina Iacobelli

     Outstanding Website Award
     Recipes from Home- A Culinary Visit to Guyana
     School:  Harry Eichler School
     Coach:  Mrs. Neme Alperstein
     Students:  Rickie Harripersaud, Brandon Sanichar

     Outstanding Website Award
     The African American Birthday Calendar
     School:  The Ralph Bunche School
     Coach:  Ms. Maureen Hughes
     Student:  Gatling Toyan, Jamel Gauthier, Roudeline Monestime,
     Natalie Stone

     Outstanding Website Award
     L.E.G.O. (Learning and building, Educational and entertaining, Games and
     Gadgets Our Way)
     School:  ECFS
     Coach:  Ms. Lan Heng
     Students:  Adam Cohen, David Cummings, Jonah Feingold, Jayant Gandhi,
     Noah Kleinberg, Jono Naito

     Outstanding Website Award
     Reading Chris Van Allusburg
     School:  Hary T. Stewart, Sr. School
     Coach:  Mrs. Arlene Laverde
     Students:  Sadier, Alexandra, Valerie, Stephanie, Ines, Henesis

     Outstanding Website Award
     XtremeSportsCenter
     School:  Curtis High School
     Coach:  Mrs. Debra Butera
     Students:  Irosh Colombage, Damon Humphrey, Matthew Synan, Marvin Wilson,
     Costas Zaharakis, Robert Ludacer

     Outstanding Website Award
     Calendar Studies
     School:  Walton High School
     Coaches:  Ms. Pamela Randall, Mr. Jack Israel
     Students:  Ernest Agyemang, Alhusain Ahmed, Bernard Ayisi

     Outstanding Website Award
     Tang Dynasty
     School:  Lower East Side Prep
     Coach:  Mr. Henry Ruan
     Students:   Ziliang Liu, WeiPing Wang, GuangLiang Xiao, Guizhen Zhang

     Outstanding Website Award
     Museum of World Wonders
     School:  High School of Telecomm Arts and Tech
     Coach:  Ms. Rachael Monaco
     Students:  Alberto Chang, Moy Fabian, Shifat Noor, Dmitriy Prokofyev,
     Eric Tang

     Outstanding Website Award
     George Westinghouse Cert Prep
     School:  George Westinghouse High School
     Coaches:  Wayne Lippold, Robert Izzo
     Students:  Melissa Caraballo, Richard Hayden, Anthony McKoy, Kayon Pryce,
     Melicia Roache, Giviline Thoby