New York – March 13, 2012 – Scholastic Media, a division of Scholastic Inc., (NASDAQ: SCHL) the global children’s publishing, education and media company, today announced the third annual WordGirl™ Definition Competition – a live virtual event that will challenge students in grades 1-3 in a battle for word domination. Inspired by the educational objectives of the WordGirl television series that airs on PBS KIDS GO!, the Definition Competition brings WordGirl into the classroom, engaging students with vocabulary words through an entertaining and interactive game-show format. The event takes place Tuesday, May 1st at 1:00 PM ET at Scholastic’s New York City headquarters. It will be streamed to thousands of classrooms nationwide via a live webcast. Directly following the webcast, WordGirl will invite students to join the Scholastic Summer Challenge - a free global reading program encouraging kids to read this summer.

Classrooms are invited to participate with a video invitation from WordGirl at the registration site. In a game-show format hosted by WordGirl and Beau Handsome, of the “May I Have a Word” segment from the animated series, the event will consist of three short rounds of play, and a bonus round. Contestants will test their vocabulary skills as they are asked questions pertaining to word usage, reading comprehension, definitions, and the use of words in different contexts. Classes across the country will play along in real-time by submitting answers online during the webcast. Classes and their answers may be called out during the event.

"We are delighted to bring back the WordGirl Definition Competition to classrooms nationwide, to enrich children's vocabulary with an entertaining, engaging experience for kids and adults alike," said Deborah Forte, President of Scholastic Media and Executive Vice President of Scholastic Inc. "The Definition Competition presents teachers with a unique opportunity to expand students’ vocabulary; we are proud to support teachers by extending our Definition Competition into the classroom."

Teachers can register for the free webcast at www.scholastic.com/wordgirldefinitioncompetition. All teachers of grades 1-3 who register will automatically be entered into the WordGirl Definition Competition sweepstakes for a chance to win books and prizes for their school or classroom. Click here for official rules.*

For the third year in a row, WordGirl will serve as the national "Ambassador of Summer Reading," in conjunction with the annual Scholastic Summer Challenge. She has adopted summer reading as her cause, encouraging kids to read books over the summer because reading introduces new words, and new words, in turn, make better readers. In her Ambassador role, WordGirl will officially kick off the Summer Challenge registration after the Definition Competition event; teachers can register their entire class and enter the Scholastic Summer Teacher Sweepstakes to win a classroom library.WordGirl will appear in promotional videos about the importance of summer reading that will air online at www.scholastic.com/summer and on Scholastic's YouTube channel.

WordGirl airs weekdays on PBS KIDS GO! and has won numerous industry excellence awards since its debut, including seven Emmy nominations and a 2008 Emmy Award win for “Best Writing in Animation.” The show has also won two Gracie awards for its portrayal of a strong female character, a Television Critics Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Animation,” a KidScreen Award for Best Voice Talent, and an iParenting Media Award. Most recently, People Magazine called the show “…inspiring…educational…[and]…hilarious” and said it was “wittier than most prime-time sitcoms.” WordGirl books are published by Scholastic, series-related games and puzzles are available from Briarpatch and an app is available for iPhone.

The 2010 and 2011 Definition Competition events drew more than three quarters of a million viewers. Scholastic has reached nearly 25 million students and teachers through its live, branded webcast events.

*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Void where prohibited. Subject to all applicable laws. Register by April 26, 2012 and log in to watch the webcast on May 1, 2012 to be automatically entered in the “WordGirl Definition Competition Webcast Sweepstakes.” Open to legal residents of the U.S. who are teachers of grades 1-3. One Grand Prize consisting of: school set of at least 500 books; one (1) Scholastic Children’s Dictionary and one (1) Scholastic’s Children’s Thesaurus; and classroom set of 30 “WordGirl Prize Packs” Grand Prize Approximate Retail Value or ARV: $3495.18. Two Second Prizes, each consisting of one Scholastic Children’s Dictionary, one Scholastic Children’s Thesaurus and one “WordGirl Prize Pack” Second Prize ARV: $68.92 each. Click here to read the official rules.

For more information on WordGirl, visit mediaroom.scholastic.com/wordgirl, PBSKIDSGO.org/wordgirl and PBS.org/pressroom.

Media Contacts:

Emma Mittelstadt
Goodman Media International
scholastic@goodmanmedia.com
212-576-2700

Bloggers: a direct link and embed code for the WordGirl animated invitation is available at http://www.scholastic.com/wordgirldefinitioncompetition/

Photos from last year’s Definition Competition are available.