PPL has selected 32 winners from 7,238 entries in this year's Electrical Safety Poster Contest for students in kindergarten through 12th grade in schools throughout the company's delivery service area.

For this year's contest, a popular part of PPL’s energy education outreach, students created artwork around the theme "Sammy’s Safety Signs." Students used crayons, pencils, paints or computer-generated graphics to depict electrical safety messages illustrated within the shape of a sign.

"Sammy Safety," a smiling triceratops, is PPL’s safety mascot used to spread safety messages among school children. It became the centerpiece of the poster contest in 1986.

The winners are:

First grade:

Caroline Mancuso (grand prize); 1st grade, Valley View Elementary Center, Peckville, Pa.; Sarah Beckley (1st place), 1st grade, St. Clare’s School, Scranton, Pa.; Alexandra Baran (honorable mention), 1st grade, Holy Spirit Academy, Hazleton. Pa.

Second grade:

Katherine Worthington (grand prize), Notre Dame Elementary School, East Stroudsburg, Pa.; Kiely Chaklos (1st place), Holy Family School, Frackville, Pa.; Mark Procaccino (honorable mention), Notre Dame Elementary School, East Stroudsburg.

Third grade:

Rachel Matteucci (grand prize), Pittston Primary Center, Pittston, Pa.; Michael Volciak (1st place), Holy Spirit School, Hazleton; Emily Ginocchetti (honorable mention), Pittston Area Primary Center, Pittston.

Fourth grade:

Pawel A. Lijewski (grand prize), Notre Dame Elementary School; East Stroudsburg; Scott Price (1st place), Barrett Elementary Center, Cresco, Pa.; Sarah Hahner (honorable mention), John S. Clarke Elementary School, Pottsville, Pa.

Fifth grade:

Alyssa Marie Farris (grand prize), Saint Jude School, Mountaintop, Pa.; Cassandra C. Leininger (1st place), Homeschool, Gordonville, Pa.; and Steven Zampano (honorable mention), Abington Heights Middle School, Clarks Summit, Pa.

Sixth grade:

Carolynn Marie Velas (grand prize), Homeschool, Quakertown, Pa.; Tracy Galloway (1st place), Mechanicsburg Area Intermediate School; Mechanicsburg, Pa.; Rae Lynn Molinaro (honorable mention), Holy Spirit Academy, Hazleton.

Seventh grade:

Amy Roberson (grand prize), Mechanicsburg Area Intermed. School, Mechanicsburg; Donald Uzelac (1st place), Whitehall Middle School, Whitehall, Pa.; Megan Anne Hughes (honorable mention), St. Boniface Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes-Barrre, Pa.

Eighth grade:

Jessica Schwartz (grand prize), Mechanicsburg Area Intermed. School, Mechanicsburg; Blake Bonser (1st place), Pocono Mountain Intermediate School, Swiftwater, Pa.; Kelly Catalano (honorable mention), Conestoga Valley Middle School, Lancaster, Pa.

Ninth Grade:

Ashlie Adams (grand prize) Southern Columbia Area High School, Catawissa, Pa.; David Andrew Velas (1st place), Homeschool, Quakertown, Pa.; Matthew Nolder (honorable mention), Clancy Alternative Ed. Program, Sunbury, Pa.

Grades 10 through 12:

Julia S. Martin (grand prize), 10th grade, Homeschool, Ephrata, Pa.; Molly Stametz, (1st place), 10th grade, Southern Columbia Area High School, Catawissa; Allie Spreng (honorable mention), 11th grade, Salisbury High School, Allentown, Pa.

Computer graphics, grades 6-8 and grades 9-12:

Alexander Zelusky (grand prize), 6th grade, Holy Spirit School, Mt. Carmel, Pa.; Corey Fahnestock (grand prize), 12th grade, Brownstown LCCTC, Brownstown, Pa.

PPL's electrical safety poster contest has attracted thousands of educators and tens of thousands of students in public, private and parochial schools during its 15-year history. During the last three years, nearly 25,000 students have participated.

The poster contest began as an outgrowth of PPL’s K-12 energy education curriculum, developed in the late 1970s by the company and a core group of 60 educators from throughout Pennsylvania.

Prizes in the competition are five shares of PPL Corp. stock for grand-prize winners, two shares for first place and one share for honorable mention. And all students who send in artwork receive a personalized Certificate of Appreciation from PPL.

The 12 grand-prize posters will be featured on PPL's 2001 electrical safety poster calendar that is distributed to all participating schools to reinforce electrical safety throughout the new year.

Teachers of grand-prize winners will receive $50 from PPL for instructional materials and supplies. And all teachers will receive a PPL light-bulb-shaped letter opener, to remind them of the importance of teaching children to be safe around electrical components.