Walt Disney World(R) Resort Named Site of Third Annual Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge

Walt Disney World(R) Resort Named Site of Third Annual Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge

Students Compete for $50,000 in College Scholarships

Al Roker Returns as Celebrity Quiz Master

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Students from across the country will travel to Walt Disney World(R) Resort, Orlando, April 17-19 to compete for $50,000 in college scholarships in the third annual Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge -- an educational outreach program based on the popular Word Power feature in Reader's Digest. NBC Today show feature reporter Al Roker returns as quiz master for the final round.

More than 1.6 million students compete annually in the Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge. The top 100 statewide school winners vie for a trip to the finals during the state championships in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and the Department of Defense Schools on March 11 and March 18.

"A good vocabulary provides essential building blocks for communication," said Kathleen Bordelon, executive director of the National Word Power Challenge. "It's especially important for kids in middle school to find ways to express themselves, and the Challenge is a fun way for students to discover how language can convey not just information, but attitudes, feelings and ideas."

State champions and their teacher-escorts arrive in Orlando for the opening round of competition on Sunday, April 17. Ten finalists will compete in the championship round on Tuesday, April 19. The first place winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship. Second and third place winners will receive college scholarships of $15,000 and $10,000. The winners will also receive Reader's Digest products for their schools.

Walt Disney World(R) Resort is a 47-square-mile world-class entertainment and recreation center featuring four theme parks, two water adventure parks, 31 resort hotels (21 Disney owned & operated), 99 holes of golf on six courses, two full-service spas, Disney's Wedding Pavilion, Disney's Wide World of Sports complex and Downtown Disney, an entertainment-shopping-dining district.

Al Roker Productions, Inc., a multimedia company involved in the development and production of network, cable, home video and public television projects, will produce a television program of the Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge Championship Event to air on NBC in early summer. This is the third joint project between Al Roker Productions, Inc. and Reader's Digest, a partnership designed to help develop programs for television that will inspire the 40 million readers of Reader's Digest and its global community.

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (NYSE:RDA) is a global publisher and direct marketer of products that inform, enrich, entertain, and inspire people of all ages and cultures. Reader's Digest is the most widely read magazine in the world. The company is located at Pleasantville, New York. The company's main website is at http://www.rd.com/. The Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge is an educational outreach program of Reader's Digest magazine. Schools are encouraged to register for next year's competition at http://www.wordpowerchallenge.com/.


Source: Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

CONTACT: Howard Greene, Greene Inc. for Reader's Digest, +1-516-825-0400,
greenepr@aol.com

Web site: http://www.rd.com/
http://www.wordpowerchallenge.com/


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