Dave Eggers and TED Challenge Individuals to Create Innovative Projects for Students

NEW YORK, May. 20 /PRNewswire/ --

NEW YORK, May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizers of the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Prize today announced an open challenge in support of author and philanthropist Dave Eggers and his 2008 TED Prize wish to collect 1,000 stories of private citizens engaged in their local public schools.

As an extension of Eggers's initial wish, the open challenge announced today asks individuals to design and implement new projects for local public school students. The three winning entries will receive a pass to the sold out TED2009 Conference to be held in Long Beach, California, on February 4-7, 2009.

Entries are open to the public and may be submitted by visiting onceuponaschool.org and will be judged by a panel of educators, entrepreneurs, and creatives from the TED community. Projects will be evaluated on the following criteria:

-- Innovation: Was a new model used? Is the approach creative? Were the students provided with access to something new?

-- Collaboration: How well did the project leaders work with the teacher/school? Did the project address a specific challenge or need of the students?

-- Impact: What changed in the life of the students, teacher, and school? Was the community affected? Did the work inspire other private citizens to get involved?

The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2008.

About the Wish

Each year, three remarkable individuals are granted the TED Prize, which provides winners with a wish to change the world, $100,000 in seed money and most importantly, support of the TED community and the world at large in making the wish come true. Since revealing his wish at TED2008, numerous groups in individuals have moved to make Eggers' wish a reality and are sharing their stories at onceuponaschool.org. Participants have sponsored books, created websites, and started programs in schools. For more information, please visit: www.onceuponaschool.org

For more information on the TED Prize, please visit www.tedprize.org

For more information on Dave Eggers' wish, please visit http://www.tedprize.org/?page_id=7

About TED

TED is an invitation-only event where the world's leading thinkers and doers gather for inspiration and insight. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design -- three broad subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future. In fact, the event is broader still, showcasing ideas that matter in any discipline. Attendees have called it "The ultimate brain spa" and "A four-day journey into the future." The audience -- CEOs, financiers, inventors, intellectuals -- is almost as extraordinary as the speakers, who have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Quincy Jones, Frank Gehry, Herbie Hancock and Bono.

Each year, TED features 50 of the world's most fascinating people. TED presenters run the world's most admired companies and design its best-loved products; they invent world-changing devices, and write best-selling books. They are trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. Collectively, they have won every major prize awarded for excellence, including the Nobel, Pritzker, Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony and Macarthur "Genius" grant. TED was first held in Monterey, CA in 1984. In 2001, Chris Anderson's Sapling Foundation acquired TED from its founder Richard Saul Wurman.

In addition to the TED Conference, TED serves to act as a catalyst for ideas worth spreading. In July of 2006, with the support of BMW, TED introduced TEDTalks, the complete talks of TED Conference speakers, available to the public free of charge via videocast and podcasts at www.ted.com. New talks are released weekly. For more information, visit .