PR120/22.5.95 

News from Acorn Computers 

Schools Hit The Headlines In The TES Newspaper Day Awards 

Acorn Computers, one of the world's leading suppliers of information 
technology to schools, will be joining the Times Educational Supplement to 
announce the three winning schools in the Acorn-sponsored TES Newspaper Day 
competition on Monday 22nd May at an awards ceremony at the Houses of 
Parliament. A record 427 schools from the UK, Europe and as far afield as 
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Japan, took part in this year's competition to 
write and design a newspaper in a day. 

Mike O'Riordan, Sales & Marketing Director at Acorn Computers Ltd and John 
Gunnell MP, among others, will be presenting a state-of-the-art Acorn Risc 
PC to the winners of the primary, secondary and international categories, 
with runners up each receiving a Pocket Book, Acorn's powerful palmtop 
computer. 

Many of the competitors used Acorn computers to create their newspapers, 
including the winner of the primary section, Churwell Primary School in 
Leeds with The Chirpy Times.  Whitby Community College came top of the 
secondary category with The Apollo while the winning international entry, 
The Ulricianum Times, was produced by Gymnasium Ulricianum in Germany. 

The three winning schools have been chosen from 16 schools receiving a 
distinction for their entries, who will all be awarded with a certificate 
and plaque.  Up to 80 schools with commended or highly commended entries 
will receive their awards at ceremonies held on Friday 26th May at the 
Houses of Parliament and the National Railway Museum in York. 

Mike O'Riordan, Sales & Marketing Director at Acorn Computers, comments: 
"This is the second year running Acorn has sponsored the TES Newspaper Day. 
The competition is important because it is not just about writing skills or 
group-working.  It also encourages children to gain new interpretation and 
communication skills using visual and print-based information from a full 
range of technologies including the Internet, desk top publishing and video. 
Our sponsorship of the TES Newspaper Day is just one element of Acorn's 
commitment to establishing 'New Literacy' initiatives in education." 

Schools were provided in advance with a support pack, photography, a survey 
on conservation and an interview with Richard Branson from a specially 
devised news centre at Cleveland Educational Computing Centre. Regular news 
feeds were also sent via Internet to schools on the day itself.  This year 
the newspapers took the themes of 'Comic Relief', 'I want to run my own 
business' or 'Recycling'. 

Those wishing to take part in future TES Newspaper Days should contact Brian 
Robinson, CECC, Prissick Base Marton Road, Middlesborough TS4 3RZ 
(brian.robin...@cam.btx400.co.uk). 

Founded in 1978, with 1994 revenues in excess of #50m, Acorn Computers is 
one of the world's leading providers of IT to education and was the first 
supplier of  low-cost 32-bit RISC based personal computers in 1987.  Acorn 
works closely with a strong community of industry partners, users and 
software developers to provide innovative technology solutions for the 
education, consumer, publishing and international markets. 

Acorn Computer Group plc is the holding company for Acorn Computers Limited, 
Acorn Australia, Acorn New Zealand, Acorn GmbH and Online Media.  Acorn 
Computer Group owns 43% of Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.  Online Media, a 
division of the Acorn Computer Group, was launched in 1994 with the 
objective to design interactive multimedia products.