FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Reception Friday for Bookmark Contest Winners

FORT MYERS, Fla., November 18, 2004 – Winners of the “2004 Design a Bookmark Contest” will be honored at a reception at 6:30 p.m. Friday, November, 19 at Barnes & Noble. (An earlier release stated this time as 6 p.m.)

Winners, their families, and teachers are invited to join Lee County Library System and Barnes & Noble in an evening to celebrate these young readers and budding artists.

"It's an exciting event for the children and their families. Teachers frequently attend to support their students and many of our children's librarians will be on hand." said Community Relations Coordinator, Heather O'Connell.

Each winner receives a Barnes & Noble gift certificate as well as a certificate honoring them for their winning design, and of course, a supply of their bookmarks.

The evening also supports the Lee County Reading Festival. On Friday evening only,  Barnes & Noble shoppers who present  a Reading Festival voucher will have a  portion of their purchase price donated to the event. Vouchers are currently available at Lee County Library System locations and will be available at the store during the Bookmark Reception.

The winning designs are currently on display at all Lee County Library System locations as part of  Children’s Book Week, November 15 - 21.

The first place winners are:          
Boca Grande Reference Room and Library               Amber Taylor
                                                              Grade 5, Liberty Elementary

Cape Coral-Lee County Public Library   Alexis Macedo
                                                              Grade 3, Skyline Elementary

Captiva Memorial Library                       Roman Maksimov
                                                              Grade 5, Sanibel School

Dunbar-Jupiter Hammon Public Library   Brittney Smith 
                                                              Grade 5, Colonial Elementary

East County Regional Library                Claritza Hernandez 
                                                             Grade 5, Mirror Lakes Elementary

Fort Myers-Lee County Public Library  Rachael Schaaf 
                                                             Grade 5, St. Michael Lutheran School

North Fort Myers Public Library           Jessica Chavez 
                                                            Grade 5, Tropic Isles Elementary

Pine Island Public Library                     Nicholas Laymon 
                                                            Grade 3, Pine Island Elementary  
                          (An earlier release listed this as Caloosa Elementary)

Riverdale Branch Library                     Alexandra Gerberick 
                                                           Grade 4, Sunshine Elementary

Rutenberg Branch Library                    Ellison Johnson 
                                                           Grade 3, Caloosa Elementary

South County Regional Library            Andrew Mullen 
                                                           Grade 5, Home-schooled

Lee County Library System Bookmobile           Michelle Butler
                                                                        Grade 5, North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts
                                                            
The winning entries are also available online at http://www3.leegov.com/library/kids/bkmks/2004Bkmk/BkmkWinners04.htm (pdf). 
Media – please contact Heather O’Connell for bookmarks in other formats (Photoshop, Illustrator, gif, jpg).