From the Publisher

By Elizabeth Valk Long

IT'S THAT WARM SEASON WHEN PARENTS BEAM AND PROMising students receive academic prizes. Our magazine and two cooperating corporations are pleased to join in the festivities again this spring. More than 800 students entered the annual TIME Education Program (TEP) contests, and the 12 winners received a total of $31,500 in scholarships. In the high school essay contest, co- sponsored by the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., the grand prize went to Michele Host of Badger Union High, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. She wrote a moving tribute to her mother, who taught her that "learning begins in the home, and with the family." Other star writers: Robert Farrell of Klein Forest High, Houston; Jackie Casper of Sheboygan County (Wisconsin) Christian High; and Sanam Lari of Tamalpais High, Mill Valley, California.

In college-level writing, co-sponsored by Mobil Corp., top honors belong to Kelly Sissom of Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Mississippi. The first-prize winner in TIME cover design was Helen Evans of C.W. Baker High, Baldwinsville, New York, and in political cartooning, Gregory Shewchuk of Centennial High, Ellicott City, Maryland.

The contests are only one of the offerings TEP provides 150,000 students at 3,500 high schools and 1,000 colleges. Marketing manager Lisa M. Quiroz says the idea is to "use the magazine to teach the week's events in an interesting fashion." Every Sunday night, three teachers meet in Mount Kisco, New York, usually over pizza, to read rush copies of the new TIME and complete a current-affairs guide. The guide is mailed out to history and social science teachers; students receive discount subscriptions to TIME.

TEP's full-time staff of 26 also operates an annual current-affairs test and invites students to guess who the Man of the Year will be. Our programs, now in their 69th year, are designed to help students become savvier about the media and more proficient in their own use of the written word and images. Of course, if some students become TIME subscribers as part of the process, we don't mind. Teachers interested in learning more about TEP should call 1-800-882-0852.