Washington, DC, 2002—The C-SPAN in the Classroom American Writers Web Site is a winner in the 2002 Beacon Awards competition. Sponsored by the Cable Television Public Affairs Association (CTPAA), the national Beacon Awards competition recognizes excellence in public affairs throughout the cable industry.

C-SPAN in the Classroom's American Writers web site was the primary tool through which C-SPAN produced and distributed free teaching resources to thousands of educators across the country. Through educator and affiliate conferences at C-SPAN and numerous local events, cable affiliates and their education partners worked to bring the web site and the series to their communities. The site's content is a collaborative effort of a ten-member curriculum advisory team of classroom English and social studies teachers, and provides detailed resources for each American Writers program including thematic clips, timelines and student activities. Meg Steele, C-SPAN's Education Department Manager said, "The site's breadth and depth earned the endorsement of the National Council for the Social Studies and succeeded in bringing C-SPAN's resources to a whole new audience of teachers and students."

From the 420 entries received in this year's Beacon Award competition, 80 winners were chosen by cable public affairs professionals in an extensive two-phase judging process. The overwhelming number of entries represent company initiatives implemented over the past year, in the areas of community, customer, media and employee relations, as well as education and government affairs.

The winners were announced at an awards ceremony on March 12, during CTPAA's annual three-day conference, FORUM 2002: Unifying the Message. FORUM 2002 was held at the Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C. from March 10 through 13, 2002.

"Winner status is truly an outstanding achievement. The requirements to become a winner are more demanding than ever before. These award winning projects reflect the cable industry's strong commitment to public affairs; to continue to provide quality entertainment, technological advances, and educational initiatives to communities across the country," said Steve Jones, Executive Director, CTPAA.

C-SPAN in the Classroom is a free membership service dedicated to helping educators use C-SPAN programming in their classes or for research. Launched in 1987, the service has a membership of educators nationwide who receive teaching guides for C-SPAN programs, access to a toll-free hotline for viewing tips and classroom strategies. All C-SPAN-produced programming is copyright cleared for use in the classroom. Educator information is available online at www.c-span.org/classroom.

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