ESSENCE Magazine Presents Will You Marry Me? 2009: Five Gentlemen Surprise Their Girlfriends With One Special Question in ESSENCE's February Issue

ESSENCE Magazine Presents Will You Marry Me? 2009: Five Gentlemen Surprise Their Girlfriends With One Special Question in ESSENCE's February Issue

Time is running out to vote for your favorite couple!

Readers have until February 12th to vote for their favorite couple on Essence.com, watch videos of their surprise proposals and help select the winner of a $50,000 dream wedding!

Winning couple to be revealed during a pre-Valentine's Day special on ABC-TV's Good Morning America February 13th!

NEW YORK, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Isn't it romantic? ESSENCE offered gentlemen across the country the chance of a lifetime -- to surprise their girlfriends with a dreamy proposal in the pages of the magazine for its third annual Will You Marry Me? feature. The letters came pouring in, but only five special men were selected and will share their love story with more than 8 million readers. Readers can now log on to Essence.com to see videos of each of the romantic proposals captured by ESSENCE's hidden cameras, see each woman's shocked responses and vote for their favorite duo. The couple to receive the most votes by February 12th will receive a $50,000 dream wedding courtesy of ESSENCE. On February 13th, the announcement of the winning couple will be revealed during a pre-Valentine's Day special on ABC-TV's Good Morning America. Tiffany & Co. is the sponsor of Will You Marry Me? 2009.

ESSENCE was bombarded with letters from men wanting to propose in the magazine after publishing an ad in the September 2008 and October 2008 issues. The five chosen couples are: Rashad A. Sanders and Andrea J. Hill of Houston; Anthony D. Lewis and Kirstan K. Simmons of Houston; E. Sean Collier of Atlanta and Ashley P. McCollum of Cincinnati; Ebiakpo Jituboh and DeKeisha George of Queens, NY, and Rahway, NJ; and Edmond Clark and Tamica Young of Griffith, Indiana.

This year's proposals are even more endearing -- and demonstrate the power of love against all odds. Watch as one couple copes while battling multiple sclerosis, while another finds joy in the midst of pain after the recent death of a parent. There are also funny moments during the proposals, such as when one woman opens her restaurant menu during dinner to find her boyfriend's proposal, or when another is shocked to find an interesting message from a scuba diver during a visit to her favorite aquarium!

"ESSENCE is so excited about the return of Will You Marry Me? We are inviting our more than 8 million readers, who have become dedicated fans of this annual celebration of love, to log on to Essence.com right now to vote for their favorite couple and help them win the ultimate dream wedding," says Angela Burt-Murray, editor-in-chief, ESSENCE.

Readers will find the creative and endearing wedding proposals on Essence.com -- along with photo galleries, pictures of the engagement rings, guest books and a space to leave special messages for each couple. Post-proposal interviews are also featured, as well as each of the letters from the grooms-to-be that are featured in ESSENCE's February 2009 issue and the moving responses from the future brides. In addition, readers will find wedding and honeymoon tips, and can share their own proposal stories with other Essence.com readers.

ESSENCE's first Will You Marry Me? feature, which showcased innovative acts of romance, made magazine history in 2007 with the first-ever magazine marriage proposals and catapulted a multimedia, interactive experience that drove millions to the online home of the pre-eminent magazine for African-American women, Essence.com. Readers voted for their favorite couples, and the close polls resulted in ESSENCE and the South African Tourism Board sending all of the couples to South Africa for a lavish honeymoon vacation. Last year, one couple received a lavish destination wedding and honeymoon cruise aboard a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship, courtesy of ESSENCE and Royal Caribbean, and the remaining couples all won an extravagant Caribbean honeymoon cruise. Find photo galleries on all of the couples on Essence.com.

Go to www.essence.com to vote now -- remember you have until February 12th!

About Essence Communications Inc.:

Essence Communications Inc. (ECI) is the leading media and communications company dedicated to African-American women. With a multi-platform presence in publishing, live events, and online, the Essence brand is "Where Black Women Come First". The company's flagship publication, ESSENCE magazine, is the preeminent lifestyle magazine for African-American women; generating brand extensions such as the Essence Music Festival, Women Who Are Shaping the World Leadership Summit, Window on Our Women (WOW I & II) and Smart Beauty I, II & III consumer insights, the Essence Book Club, Essence.com, and ventures in digital media (mobile, television and VOD) via Essence Studios. For 38 years, ESSENCE magazine, which has a readership of 8.1 million, has been the leading source of cutting-edge information relating to every area of African-American women's lives. Additional information about ECI and ESSENCE is available at essence.com.

About Essence.com:

Essence.com is the daily online destination for African-American women that informs, entertains and connects. The expansive web destination delivers daily fresh content, engaging blogs, robust photo galleries, a substantial online community and original video programming across four channels that include: News & Entertainment, Fashion & Beauty, Relationships and Lifestyle. Essence.com is currently the largest and fastest growing African-American magazine website. The site's growth is unsurpassed and reaches more than a million monthly unique visitors. The new Essence.com launched in September 2008 as one of the first projects to come from the partnership between The Warner Bros. Television Group and Time Inc.'s Essence Communications Inc.

Source: ESSENCE Magazine

CONTACT: Dana Baxter, +1-212-522-1634, dbaxter@essence.com, or Sheila
Harris, +1-212-522-1089, sharris@essence.com, both of ESSENCE

Web Site: http://www.essence.com/

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