Washington, DC…

September 1, 1999

The National Center for Small Communities (NCSC) announces the winners of the AOL Rural Telecommunications Leadership Awards, a new program in partnership with the AOL Foundation, founded by America Online in 1997. The AOL Awards recognize and promote outstanding achievement in rural community development, resulting from the deployment and use of advanced telecommunications. To be eligible for the award, community leaders must demonstrate that they have enhanced rural telecommunications, through a public-private partnership, in a community of 10,000 population or less.

A panel of eight rural telecommunications experts reviewed 135 complete, online applications received by NCSC. Applications were evaluated on the basis of five criteria: impact, innovativeness, replicability, degree of community involvement, and proposed use of the award funds. The judges selected one winner and two finalists in each of the following four categories.

Telecommunications Applications

WINNER: Maddock, North Dakota (pop. 510)

A new Rural Business and Technology Center offers shared telecommunications infrastructure and a multi-purpose facility that promotes business development, health care and child care services, and computer and Internet training and education.

FINALISTS: Haines, Alaska Dillon, Montana

Community Capacity Building

WINNER: Sylvester, Georgia (pop. 6,377)

Created one of the nation’s first Free Nets in 1994, serving 600 users in two remote rural counties. In addition to free Internet access from home or business computers, the county hosts 150 public access locations where local citizens can get online. The Proposal.

FINALISTS: Mendocino Unified School District, California Buellton, California

Infrastructure Technology/Policy (combined category)

WINNER: Questa, New Mexico (pop. 2,046)

A grassroots organization partnered with the State Radio Communications Bureau to render Internet access using wireless technology. Due to the region’s mountainous terrain and sparse population, US West was unwilling to lay fiber optic cable. La Plaza Telecommunity’s wireless demonstration project has made the Internet accessible to local artisans, schools, businesses, health clinic, and Questa’s low-income, ethnically-diverse citizens.

FINALISTS: Harlan, Iowa Abingdon Virginia

Youth Development

WINNER: McDermitt, Nevada (pop. 373)

Local high school students established and independently manage an Internet Service Provider that furnishes local dial-up access for McDermitt and seven surrounding communities. Now that long-distances charges are no longer required, the area’s schools, businesses, farmers, mining companies are traversing the Internet.

FINALISTS: Elsa, Texas Pratt, Kansas

Go to AOL Rural Telecommunications Leadership Awards Home Page to view submissions from winners, finalists and other applicants. All 135 applications are worthy models!

The four winners will be presented with cash awards of $10,000 at RuralTeleCon, the National Rural Telecommunications Conference being held in Aspen, Colorado, Oct.10-13, 1999. The eight finalists are being honored with a certificate, free registration to the RuralTeleCon, a copy of NCSC’s new Getting Online guidebook, and inclusion in an Innovative Rural Telecommunications Case Studies booklet being distributed at NCSC’s educational conference, Sept. 8-10.

For information on the National Center for Small Communities, go to http://www.natat.org/ncsc. To learn more about the AOL Foundation, visit http://www.aolfoundation.org.