XXVI. Publicity

The sample Contest Announcement news release below, should be prepared and distributed to the newspapers, radio and television stations in your region. To make preparation of the news release easier, visit our web site, and download the text from the on-line copy of the AMC 10/12 Teachers' Manual. See the AMC website, or the 2004 Summary of Results for statistics and figures from the 2004 contest. Statistics and figures for the 2005 Contests will be available on our website in March 2005. Placing this on School letterhead makes a more formal appearance.

(School or School District)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(School) STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN NATIONAL MATHEMATICS COMPETITION

( # ) students at (School) participated in the 56^th annual American Mathematics Contest 12, and/or the 6^th annual American Mathematics Contest 10. The contests were held on Tuesday, February 1, (or Wednesday, February 16, 2005). The students competed for local, regional and national student and school awards. The contest, which covers high school mathematics, is given in participating schools. Its purpose is to spur interest in mathematics and develop talent through the excitement of friendly competition at problem solving in a timed format. In 2004 over 240,000 students from 4,400 schools participated in the AMC 10 & AMC 12 contest including (_#_) students from (_#_) schools in (State). Top scorers at (school) were (________, _______, etc.).

According to Prof. Steven Dunbar, who serves as Director of the American Mathematics Competitions, the AMC 12 (first offered in 1950), and the AMC 10 (first offered in 2000), are part of a series of contests sponsored each year by The Mathematical Association of America, through their program, the American Mathematical Competitions. The AMC offers the only math competition series in the country leading to the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) and the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP). From this group of students, the AMC sends the highly competitive USA Team to the prestigious annual International Mathematical Olympiad. The AMC program includes :

The AMC is located at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. and receives support from the Akamai Foundation, American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges, American Mathematical Society, American Society of Pension Actuaries, American Statistical Association, Art of Problem Solving, Canada/USA Mathpath, Canada/USA Mathcamp, Casualty Actuarial Society, Clay Mathematics Institute, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, Mu Alpha Theta, National Association of Mathematicians, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Pedagoguery, Inc., Pi Mu Epsilon, and the Society of Actuaries. The Contests are given across the U.S.A, Canada, and in many schools abroad.

Details concerning the 2005 AMC 10/12 contests for High School, as well as the rest of AMC's programs are available on the AMC web site: www.unl.edu/amc/.

For further information contact the AMC -- telephone: 800/527-3690, email: amcinfo@unl.edu.