1999 NATIONAL SAVINGS BONDS POSTER CONTEST WINNERS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 20, 1999

Treasurer of the United States Mary Ellen Withrow will present the three national winners in the 8th Annual Savings Bonds Poster Contest with awards during a ceremony at the U.S. Treasury Department's Cash Room in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 20, 1999 at 1:30 p.m.State Winners were selected earlier this year. First place entries from each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico then were submitted to a panel of judges for selection of the national winners.

The three winning posters are the work of two sixth-graders from Puerto Rico and Oklahoma, and a fourth-grader from California. Their posters, and those of the other 49 first place winners, will be displayed in more than 70 airports around the country this fall. The posters will be exhibited in Washington D.C., during June and July at the Capital Childrens' Museum and then at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on 14th Street, SW, August through October.

The first place winner, Laura E. Rodriguez, a sixth-grader at Santiago Iglesias Pantin, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, will receive a $5,000 U.S. Savings Bond and her poster will be used to promote the sale of bonds nationwide in 2000. When asked what she is going to do with her award, Laura said, “I plan to use the U.S. Savings Bonds I won to help pay for college.”Along with Laura's winning poster will be the slogan: “U. S. Savings Bonds--Creating a New Century of Savings.”

The second and third place winners, Josh Bogart Speer, a sixth-grader at Monte Cassino School, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Aaron Yamagata, a fourth-grader who attends the Fine Arts and Music Academy, Valley Village, California, will receive $2,000 and $1,000 in savings bonds, respectively.

The poster contest began in 1992 as a fun way for students to learn the value of saving. “The poster contest provides a creative way for children to learn the value of savings with U.S. Savings Bonds, as well as the possibility to win a substantial award to invest in their future”, said Van Zeck, Commissioner of the Public Debt. (The Bureau of the Public Debt manages the savings bond program.)

Sponsor of this year's contest is Metropolitan Life Insurance company, who also chaired the 1999 U.S. Savings Bond Volunteer Committee. The trip to Washington, D.C., for this year's winners is also being made possible by: the Renaissance Washington D.C. Hotel, Gray Line Tours of Washington, Planet Hollywood, and the Hard Rock Cafe who donated their services.

MEDIA ARE INVITED. CAMERAS MUST BE SET UP BY 1:00 P.M. ON THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1999, IN THE U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT'S CASH ROOM, 15TH AND PENNSYLVANIA AVE., N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220.