Six high school students were chosen winners in Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.'s 1995 environmental essay contest for pupils in grades 10 through 12. The essay's theme was "Looking to the year 2020: What will my generation do during the succeeding years to make the 50th anniversary of Earth Day a true celebration of our planet?"

Grand prize winners are: Juliana Novic, 10th grade, Hazleton Area High School, Hazleton; Tony Palina, 11th grade, Shenandoah Valley Jr./Sr. High School, Shenandoah; and Sarah Meldrum, 12th grade, Emmaus High School, Lehigh Valley.

Honorable mention winners are: David Pedri, 10th grade, Bishop Hafey High School, Hazleton; Heather Malikowski, 11th grade, Crestwood High School, Mountaintop; and Steve Hoovler, 12th grade, Crestwood High School, Mountaintop.

PP&L received 83 essays, representing 17 public and parochial high schools.

Each grand prize winner will receive $200 and each honorable mention winner will receive $100. Teachers of grand prize winners will receive $100 cash awards for the purchase of environmental education resources.

In addition, student winners will receive a complimentary subscription to "National Wildlife." All students who submitted an essay will receive a certificate of recognition from PP&L and a PP&L 1995 Earth Day T-shirt.

Essays were judged on four factors: 1) how well they addressed the theme 2) readability, 3) originality and 4) creativity.

"The essay contest, in many ways, was a natural extension to our energy education programs. It gave us a great opportunity to reach teachers and students in language arts disciplines," said Lawrence C. Sparta, coordinator-Energy Education programs. "The success of this essay contest proves that the topics of energy and the environment are important to teachers in subject areas other than science."