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Bill Gates Honors Award Recipients; 15-year-old Champion Junior Drag Racer

Named Grand Prize Winner to be Featured as Part of Microsoft's National Start

Something Advertising Campaign

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    REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --  Microsoft Corp.
 (Nasdaq:   MSFT) today announced the five winners of its Start Something Amazing
 Awards, a program honoring the unique and inspiring ways that people use
 Microsoft(R) Windows(R)-related technology in simple yet powerful ways to
 pursue their everyday passions. The five winners each showcased unique and
 compelling uses of Windows technology to enjoy their interests -- from
 producing a sketch-comedy TV show and connecting with the deaf community to
 drag racing, tackling the issue of food insecurity and running a music studio.
 Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates will meet the
 winners today at Microsoft's headquarters, where he will present their awards
 and name 15-year-old Jeannine Johnson as the grand prize winner to be featured
 in a Microsoft ad.
     (Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )
     "Today we celebrate the achievements of five highly creative individuals
 who used the Microsoft Windows platform to pursue their passions," Gates said.
 "Their stories, along with those of thousands of others who entered the Start
 Something Amazing Awards, are inspirational examples of the transformative
 power of technology."
     The Start Something Amazing Awards were created to support the global
 awareness campaign called Start Something, one of the largest and longest
 marketing campaigns in the Windows brand history, which celebrates the
 countless possibilities for Windows to bring what people are passionate about
 to life using the hundreds of thousands of software applications and devices
 that work with Microsoft Windows XP.
     The following are the five winners of the Start Something Amazing Awards:
 
      --  Sports & Games:  Jeannine Johnson, 15, Puyallup, Wash. Born three and
          a half months premature and given a 1 percent chance of survival,
          Jeannine Johnson battled several health issues and surgeries over the
          years that left her unable to participate in traditional sports. She
          turned to drag racing at age 9 and became one of only four National
          Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Junior Dragsters to achieve a "perfect
          package" during a race (a feat that requires impeccable speed and
          timing). Johnson relies on Windows-based technology to help monitor
          her car's performance. She connects her Windows XP-based PC to her
          car's data acquisition system and measures RPM, jack-shaft speed and
          motor temperature variances from start to finish during each race.
          Off the track, Johnson uses Microsoft Office Word and Microsoft
          Office PowerPoint(R) to help her maintain a 3.8 grade point average.
 
      --  Culture & Community:  Michelle Tjelmeland, 32, Springfield, Ill. When
          Michelle Tjelmeland became deaf at age 22, she turned to technology
          to help cope with her hearing loss. She earned an online master's
          degree in computer technology and education and started her own
          Web-development business, a career that allowed her to successfully
          earn a living by using her Windows-based PC to manage her business.
          When Tjelmeland's daughter Ellie was born deaf, Tjelmeland became
          passionate about helping other families in similar circumstances and
          again turned to technology to help her communicate and share their
          inspiring story by creating her Web site, http://www.iloveellie.com .
          Tjelmeland is also a member of the National Association of Women
          Business Owners.
 
      --  Home & Lifestyle:  Diane Reeder, 40, Kingston, N.Y. Diane Reeder, a
          mother of three who loves to cook, wanted to bring attention to the
          issue of food insecurity. Her passion for cooking and her desire to
          help others help themselves led Reeder to found a nonprofit
          organization called The Queens Galley
          ( http://www.queensgalley.org ), a group of volunteer chefs that
          teaches people how to stretch the food they already have. Reeder
          relied on her Windows-based PC to help get The Queens Galley up and
          running, from finding volunteer chefs on the Internet and creating a
          Web site with Microsoft Office FrontPage(R) to developing a
          newsletter with Microsoft Office Publisher and even designing images
          for edible cookie icing.
 
      --  Music:  Andre Isom, 23, Benton Harbor, Mich. Andre Isom has been
          passionate about music since he was a child and dreamed about being a
          music producer, artist and engineer. These goals became possible once
          he saw others using a PC to produce, compose and arrange music. Isom
          now runs his own music studio from a small Michigan town where he
          uses his Windows-based PC and several software programs to lay
          tracks, record vocals and master his music. Isom's use of technology
          has also carried over into his job as a radio disc jockey, where he
          runs his weekly radio show using Windows Media(R) Player.
 
      --  Memories:  E.J. Dyksen, 19, Lansing, Mich. Calvin College student
          E.J. Dyksen created a comedy show called "Laughterhouse Five," aiming
          to entertain his fellow students through airtime on his college TV
          station. A technology enthusiast at heart, Dyksen was thrilled to
          find a way to combine his interests in comedy, filmmaking and
          computers, whether using his Tablet PC to script show ideas, Windows
          Server(TM) to communicate through message boards or his Windows XP
          Media Center Edition-based PC to edit footage. After completing an
          eight-minute pilot sketch last spring, Dyksen and his pals now plan
          to distribute their comedy show using Windows Media Video HD
          technologies.
 
      Johnson, the grand prize winner, will be featured in a Microsoft
 advertisement scheduled to run in Entertainment Weekly, ESPN Magazine,
 National Geographic and Rolling Stone in the coming months. In addition to the
 trip to Seattle to meet Bill Gates, each winner will receive $5,000 in the
 latest Windows technology, including a Windows XP Media Center Edition-based
 PC, Tablet PC and iriver H10 portable music device, as well as the following
 once-in-a-lifetime prizes designed to further celebrate their passions:
 
      --  Culture & Community:  National Geographic Expeditions. Tjelmeland and
          a guest will get their choice of one of four exotic National
          Geographic Expeditions. They will have the opportunity to discover
          the cultural and natural wonders of Bhutan, explore Tanzania and
          Zanzibar, take a classical journey through Greece, or chart China's
          past. The prize package includes airfare and accommodations for two.
 
      --  Home & Lifestyle:  Design consultation or Food Network internship for
          a day. Reeder will receive her choice of either an in-home design
          consultation with an HGTV-appointed designer and $5,000 to spend on
          new home decor, or the chance to be an intern at Food Network in New
          York City, with a crash course in food styling, the chance to assist
          on-set, an exclusive meal at a Food Network chef restaurant and the
          entire library of Food Network Kitchens cookbooks. Reeder has
          selected the Food Network package, which includes airfare and
          accommodations for two.
 
      --  Music:  Once-in-a-lifetime music experience. Isom and a guest will
          travel to New York for VIP access to a Live@VH1.com performance with
          an opportunity to meet the artist, program a block of music videos on
          VH1 Classic, and receive 20 CDs and 20 DVDs from http://www.vh1.com .
          The prize package includes accommodations for two.
 
      --  Memories:  Movie premiere weekend. Dyksen and a guest will get VIP
          access to a major movie premiere in New York City or Los Angeles,
          with first-class airfare, accommodations for two nights, invitations
          to an after-party and $500 in spending money. The package is provided
          by Entertainment Weekly magazine.
 
      --  Sports & Games:  Ultimate sports experience. ESPN is offering Johnson
          a one-of-a-kind trip to go behind the scenes at ESPN's headquarters
          in Bristol, Conn., including a tour and an opportunity to meet the
          "SportsCenter" personalities, as well as an appearance on ESPN2's
          "Cold Pizza" to talk about her ultimate sports experience. She and a
          guest will also have lunch or dinner with an athlete at New York
          City's ESPN Zone. This prize package includes accommodations for two.
 
     Microsoft is also awarding 20 honorable mentions and featuring those
 entries online at http://www.windows.com/awards . In recognition of their
 amazing uses of Windows-related technologies, honorable mention recipients
 also will receive an assortment of Microsoft hardware and software products to
 help them continue to pursue their passions.
 
     Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services
 and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
 
     NOTE:  Microsoft, Windows, PowerPoint, FrontPage, Windows Media and
 Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft
 Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
     The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the
 trademarks of their respective owners.
 
 

SOURCE  Microsoft Corp.

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