Nickandmore!

[via press release]

Kids’ WB! Bookmarks Its First-Ever National In-School Reading Initiative In “The Premiere Kids’ WB! Poké-Read-A-Rama Challenge”

(February 8, 2001 – Burbank, CA) – In an effort to encourage kids to read, Kids’ WB! is proud to invite kids and schools around the country to participate in the network’s first-ever national educational reading initiative in “The Premiere Kids’ WB! POKÉ-READ-A-RAMA Challenge.” The literacy program is being offered to more than 65,000 elementary schools through a direct-mail outreach campaign. The in-school reading program will take place throughout the month of March and will be supported by a national on-air Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaign and an exciting read-and-win promotion that will reward students and schools for their participation and efforts to read. Each participating student will receive an official Poké-Read-A-Rama certificate from Ash Ketchum, bookmark and badge…as every student is a winner!

“The Premiere Kids’ WB! POKÉ-READ-A-RAMA Challenge” has been developed under the direction and guidance of Youth Media International Ltd. (YMI), a national organization comprised of educators, award-winning veterans in the field of education and YMI’s Educational Advisory Board. This reading initiative is sponsored by Nintendo of America and Kids’ WB!

The national on-air PSA campaign will feature Ash and the Pokémon gang encouraging kids to read, as Ash shares the importance of reading each day. ”It could be my comics, a magazine, a newspaper, a book, it doesn’t matter ’cause each time I read I’m building my brain and becoming smarter,” Ash says – as he pursues his lifelong dream of becoming a Pokémon Master!

In an effort to reward students and schools for their participation, the program will award the World Premiere of “Pokémon 3 The Movie” – to one school just for registering in “The Premiere Kids’ WB! POKÉ-READ-A-RAMA Challenge.” In addition to this national sweepstakes premiere prize, a grand prize will be awarded to the highest- scoring school that reads the most books with the exclusive once-in-a-lifetime chance to be the first school ever to host a Saturday morning of programming on Kids’ WB!

The premiere prize will be awarded to one school – registered by March 2 and selected from a random drawing for the national sweepstakes. The World Premiere of “Pokémon 3 The Movie” will be shown in the chosen school’s auditorium prior to the theatrical film opening in theaters nationwide on April 6. This school also will be granted a $500 donation to its school library.

Besides hosting Kids’ WB!, the grand prize-winning school also will receive a private screening of “Pokémon 3 The Movie” at their school, a $5,000 donation to its school library and ten soon-to-be-released Pokémon Stadium 2 games. The additional top nine schools also will be awarded with a private screening at each school, a $500 donation to their school library and ten Pokémon Stadium 2 games for each school.

From now until March 2, 2001, elementary schools (grades 1-6) must register for “The Premiere Kids’ WB! POKÉ-READ-A-RAMA Challenge” by logging onto the official web site www.KidsWB.com/pokereadarama or by mailing in the official entry/reply card postmarked by March 2. The official web site www.KidsWB.com/pokereadarama also allows kids to interact with online reading activities and the opportunity to share their favorite books with other kids. In addition, the site provides teachers with creative ideas to make reading more fun in the classroom. School administrators and/or teachers also may call 1-203-459-1562 if they have any questions.

On March 1, 2001, “The Premiere Kids’ WB! POKÉ-READ-A-RAMA Challenge” begins! Elementary schools nationwide will have until March 30 for their students to read as many books as possible. Each student will receive one Poké-Point for every book read and recorded on a Poké-Report. Each school will tally the total number of Poké-Points accumulated by its students, divided by the number of students enrolled in grades 1-6. The school with the most books read per student wins! All participating schools must submit their total scores either by logging onto www.KidsWB.com/pokereadarama or by mailing in their Final Tally Form by April 3, in order to be eligible to win exciting prizes.

LET THE READING BEGIN!!