Citi's ThankYou(R) Network Announces Winner of Gift Card Design Contest

New ThankYou Network Gift Card To Feature Winning Design

NEW YORK, June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Citi's ThankYou Network today announced that Nicole Burd of Burbank, Calif. has won the 2009 ThankYou Gift Card Design Contest after voting by thousands of consumers at www.thankyou.com. The competition invited ThankYou Members to submit designs and photographs for the chance to become the artwork on the latest ThankYou Network gift card. The contest drew more than 1,600 original designs.

Burd's winning Koi fish design now joins several ThankYou gift card designs from internationally renowned artist and designer, Karim Rashid. In addition to having her design grace a new ThankYou gift card, which will be available to ThankYou Members in September, Burd will receive 100,000 ThankYou Points and she will be honored at an event today at 6:30 p.m. PDT at the Citibank branch located at 4000 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank, California.

"Selecting finalists for the contest was a huge challenge due to the terrific response we received from our members, who demonstrated amazing creativity and talent in their submissions," said Nancy Gordon, Executive Vice President, Citi's ThankYou Network. "Nicole's unique and whimsical design will appeal to a wide variety of our members."

Second and third place in the Citi ThankYou Gift Card Design Contest were awarded to Mohamed Benhalima of Wichita, Kansas, and Lynn M. Zimmerman of Hays, Kansas, respectively. Benhalima's design, featuring a group of friends enjoying a sunset on a beach, earned him 50,000 ThankYou Points, while Zimmerman's design featuring a photo of her son blowing on a dandelion blossom earned her 25,000 ThankYou Points.

"We are so pleased that our members embraced the contest and submitted such truly creative and inspiring designs," Gordon said. "ThankYou's aim has always been to help our customers lead more rewarding lives and to show them how much we value them by giving them the opportunity to contribute to the program."

The contest submission period ran from February 12, 2009 through May 30, 2009. The finalists were selected based on overall creativity, aesthetic appeal and Citi brand compatibility. The three finalists were posted to ThankYou.com, where visitors cast the deciding votes for the winning design.

The prepaid gift cards in ThankYou Network's rewards collection are issued by Citibank, N.A. and serviced by Citi Prepaid Services, which provides fully custom prepaid solutions for public and private organizations looking for simple, convenient, economical electronic payment delivery.

ThankYou Network is one of the world's largest loyalty programs with more than 13 million members. Since its inception in 2004, ThankYou Network has reinforced Citi's focus on developing and nurturing long-term relationships with its customers. They can earn points from activities across a range of Citi businesses, such as everyday banking transactions at Citibank, or by using participating Citi credit cards or Smith Barney FMA Cards. They can also get points just by booking select travel at Expedia, or by shopping through ThankYou Network's Bonus Center, an online shopping mall featuring more than 300 top retailers.

ThankYou Members can use their points to redeem from millions of rewards, including merchandise, online travel reservations powered by Expedia, gift cards, and cash. Members may also use points to make student loan and mortgage payments or create customized rewards with "Your Wish Fulfilled."

About Citi

Citi is the leading global financial services company, which has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through its two operating units, Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management.

Tags/Keywords:

Citi, ThankYou Network, ThankYou, prepaid, Karim Rashid, Your Wish Fulfilled, Expedia, Smith Barney, rewards, Visa

Links:

• ThankYou Network: http://www.thankyou.com/
• ThankYou Prepaid Cards: https://www.thankyou.com/rewardsSubSubCategory.jspx?subSubCategoryName=Citi%26reg%3B+Gift+Cards&d-16544-o=2&d-16544-s=1
• ThankYou Rewards Catalog: https://www.thankyou.com/rewardsCategoryList.jspx
• Your Wish Fulfilled: https://www.thankyou.com/rewardsYWFMain.jspx
• Smith Barney: https://www.thankyou.com/getPointsWithSmithBarney.jspx
• ThankYou Network Bonus Center: https://www.thankyou.com/getPointsPartMerchants.jspx

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SOURCE Citi