Nokia Celebrates 10 Years as Title Sponsor of Nokia Sugar Bowl; Fans and Viewers Use Mobile Phones to Decide Favorite BCS Game of All Time

Nokia Celebrates 10 Years as Title Sponsor of Nokia Sugar Bowl; Fans and Viewers Use Mobile Phones to Decide Favorite BCS Game of All Time

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The 2005 Nokia Sugar Bowl marks the 10th year of Nokia's title sponsorship of this storied bowl game in New Orleans. In honor of its tenth season, eight of them as Bowl Championship Series (BCS) games, Nokia is asking fans to determine the best BCS game ever.

Best BCS Game

For seven weeks during the fall, Nokia (NYSE:NOK) conducted an online poll to determine the best BCS match-up of the last eight years. The voting started with 28 games, and voters narrowed the field of games to the top three: 2003 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (Ohio State 31, Miami 24), 2004 Rose Bowl Presented by Citi (USC 28, Michigan 14) and 2000 FedEx Orange Bowl (Michigan 35, Alabama 34).

During the interactive halftime program, television viewers along with fans at the game will be asked to use their mobile phones to text message a vote for their favorite of the three games. Voting will be tallied after the 3rd quarter and the winning bowl game will be announced during the 4th quarter. Nokia will make a charitable donation to the general scholarship fund of each school in the winning bowl game.

"This interactive contest allows Nokia to both entertain and interact with fans attending the game in New Orleans and those watching on television," said Jo Harlow, vice president of marketing for Nokia Americas. "We are proud of our decade-long relationship with the Nokia Sugar Bowl and want to use this opportunity to highlight the great BCS match-ups that fans have enjoyed over the past eight years."

Also at halftime, Nokia will feature the Nokia Sugar Bowl 2-Minute Drill on the field. Two fans will compete against each other to correctly match the year of the Nokia Sugar Bowl game with the teams playing in the game. The contestants have two minutes to match the two teams with the correct game over the last 10 years. The contestant with the most matches correct in two minutes wins $10,000.

N-Gage Challenge

For the second year, Nokia will host the N-Gage Challenge in New Orleans on Saturday, January 1 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Hard Rock Cafe. The N-Gage Challenge is a double elimination tournament conducted on Nokia's N-Gage game deck. The 11 participants will compete head-to-head on the EA NCAA Football game with the winner being awarded $2,000. Dax Shepard of MTV's Punk'd will emcee the event.

Big Easy Fan Fest and Pep Rally

A three-day Nokia Sugar Bowl Fan Fest will keep fans entertained in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The event features Nokia's latest products and appearances by Danny Wuerffel, Bruce Smith and Tracy Rocker. Fans can also enter to compete in the Nokia Sugar Bowl 2-Minute Drill for the chance to win $10,000 at halftime on game day. Nokia Sugar Bowl Fan Fest runs from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on January 1 and from 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on January 2 between Jax Brewery and the Hard Rock Cafe in the French Quarter. On game day, the event moves to the walkway between the Hyatt Regency New Orleans and the Superdome from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Auburn and Virginia Tech fans can chant and cheer the day before the game at the official Nokia Sugar Bowl Pep Rally. From 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 2, both schools' bands, cheerleaders, dance teams and mascots will lead the crowd in school spirited activities outside of Jax Brewery on Decatur Street at the Nokia Unwired Stage.

YA/YAs

Nokia has partnered with Young Aspirations/Young Artists, (YA/YA), Inc. in New Orleans for Nokia Sugar Bowl fanfare. YA/YA is the phenomenal nonprofit arts organization started by the painter Jana Napoli in 1988. The YA/YAs came to the attention of the outside world through their painted chairs. The organization has created two Nokia Sugar Bowl thematic chairs featuring Auburn and Virginia Tech. For a $1 donation fans are entered into the raffle for the chairs. Winners will be selected following the Nokia Sugar Bowl Pep Rally on Sunday. Nokia is donating $3,000 to the YA/YAs for participation in this year's Nokia Sugar Bowl activities.

About Nokia

Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations. http://www.nokia.com/ .

Contact
Nokia Americas
Corporate Communications
Tel.: 972 894 4573
E-mail: communication.corp@nokia.com

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040130/NOKIALOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Nokia

CONTACT: Nokia Americas, Corporate Communications, +1-972-894-4573, or
communication.corp@nokia.com

Web site: http://www.nokia.com/


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