Doors to Diplomacy Award Winners Announced

Doors to Diplomacy Award Winners Announced

The Department of State is pleased to announce the selection of two winning websites for its 2005 Doors to Diplomacy Award. The awards recognize the websites that best teach about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy. A total of 293 student teams from 39 countries, ranging in age from 15-18, participated in the contest, which was co-sponsored by the Department of State and Global SchoolNet.

The winning sites are: All the World Is One: This site, built by a team of students from Gurgaon, Haryana, India, explores international security by considering global realities and threats while celebrating the mutual cooperation and celebration that support diplomacy.

Vaccinations for Nations: This site was built by a team of students from Toledo, Ohio, USA. Their site aims to educate young people about the diseases that ravage innocent children, and also provides ways students can help.

Each student member of the winning Doors to Diplomacy Award teams will receive a $2,000 scholarship and a trip to Washington, DC this spring, where they will receive a private tour of the State Department facilities, meet with key officials, and participate in a special award presentation ceremony. In addition, the winning coaches and schools will each receive a $500 cash award.

Judging was performed by peers and educational professionals, with the final selections made by a team of State Department judges from the Bureaus of Public Affairs and Educational and Cultural Affairs. The winning sites will be linked from the State Department's youth site at future.state.gov/ later this month.

Global SchoolNet is a non-profit, Internet-based education program. The Doors to Diplomacy Award was specially created for Cyberfair, a contest that encourages students and educators to join together to build high-quality, educational websites on a variety of topics. These website entries will be available on the web as learning tools to millions of people around the globe.

To learn more about Doors to Diplomacy projects visit: globalschoolhouse.org/doors/

For more information, contact: Yvonne Marie Andres Global SchoolNet Telephone: 760-635-0001 E-mail: diplomacy@globalschoolnet.org or Janice Clark U.S. Department of State Telephone: 703-875-5086E-mail: clarkje4@state.gov 2005/490 Released on May 9, 2005 Media Note, Office of the Spokesman, Washington, DC, May 9, 2005