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PPL Utilities is holding its 15th annual electrical safety poster contest for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, and winners will receive shares of PPL Corp. stock during award presentations at their schools.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19981015/PHTH025 )

This year's theme, "Sammy's Safety Signs," invites students to draw pictures within a sign that carries an electrical safety message. Signs can be any shape and have multiple sides like a stop sign.

Children in public, private, parochial and home schools are invited to submit entries.

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 throughout Pennsylvania.

A common theme in the curriculum was electrical safety, a topic that transcends age or grade level. Sammy Safety, a smiling triceratops originally used in elementary schools as PPL Utilities' safety mascot, was introduced to the upper grades and became the centerpiece of the poster contest in 1986.

"We realized it was a natural extension of the K-12 curriculum to enhance the safety lessons, so we decided that a safety poster contest for all students was in order," said Larry Sparta, PPL's education relations director. "We organized the contest to start at the beginning of the school year so students and their teachers would have a fun way to begin the school year."

More than 25,000 students statewide have submitted entries over last three years. Sammy Safety will again be part of the 2001 PPL Electrical Safety Poster Calendar along with the designs from the 12 grand prize winning posters. About 10,000 calendars will be mailed to schools and PPL facilities to encourage electrical safety throughout the year.

A panel of PPL employees and teachers will judge the entries and select 36 winners in grade-level categories. Twelve grand prize winners will receive five shares of PPL Corp stock; 12 first place winner will get two shares of stock; and 12 honorable mention winners will get one share of stock. All students participating in the contest will receive a certificate from PPL.

For information about the contest, call LaVerne Blanks, 610-774-5298, or send email to lblanks@pplweb.com. The deadline for entries is Oct. 31. Entries should be sent to Blanks' attention and mailed to PPL, 2 N. Ninth St., Allentown, Pa., 18101.

PPL Utilities is a subsidiary of Allentown, Pa.-based PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL). PPL Corp. is a FORTUNE 500® company that delivers electricity and natural gas to more than 1.3 million customers in Pennsylvania; markets wholesale or retail energy in 43 U.S. states and Canada; provides energy services for businesses in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S.; generates electricity at power plants in Pennsylvania, Maine and Montana; delivers electricity to 1.4 million customers in southwest Britain; and delivers electricity to nearly 1.8 million customers in Chile, Bolivia, El Salvador and Brazil.

NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19981015/PHTH025

PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 201-369-3467

SOURCE: PPL Utilities

Contact: Larry Sparta of PPL, 610-774-6914, or fax, 610-774-5281