For the second consecutive year, Ball State has proven that it can compete with the world's technology leaders at the Digital Entertainment and Media Excellence (DEMX) Awards, which are sponsored by Digital Media Wire and Billboard Magazine.

Duplicating its efforts from last year, Ball State is the only university listed as a finalist in multiple categories and is competing alongside The Walt Disney Co., NASCAR, National Geographic, HBO, Apple and MSN. The winners will be announced Dec. 1 in Los Angeles.

The university's Electronic Field Trip (EFT) program, sponsored by the Best Buy Children's Foundation, is a finalist in two categories. The broadcast "The Holocaust Museum Experience: Exploring Our Daily Decision Making" will be competing for Best Interactive Television Programming honors. While the Web site for "Discovering Our American Spirit" is vying for Best Use of Technology for Educational Programming.

Just last month, Ball State was named the nation's number one wireless campus by Intel, and now the university is once again a finalist for the Billboard awards. Mark Kornmann, director of Teachers College outreach services, says it's exciting to see the university gaining recognition for its innovative use of educational and information technology initiatives.

"To share the stage with the best digital content providers in the world is pretty humbling," he said. "Being a finalist for these awards confirms that, thanks to our partners, the resources and access Electronic Field Trips are offering through the broadcasts and Web sites are unmatched by any other organization."

EFTs are virtual field trips, each allowing more than 15 million students, teachers and community members to visit museums and national parks and pose questions to scientists, artists, astronauts and Hall of Fame baseball players. Every EFT also has a comprehensive Web site.

"The Holocaust Museum Experience: Exploring Our Daily Decision Making" took students to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and explored the Nazi rise to power to learn how countless individuals, who were relied upon to uphold the public good, became active participants in civil rights violations and mass murder. Through a partnership with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the "American Spirit" Web site and subsequent broadcast allowed students to learn about American history through the eyes of baseball.

Already this year, EFTs have won a 2005 first-place Digital Education Achievement Award from the Center for Digital Education. And at the 2005 World Media Festival, the Web sites for "Into the Canyon" and "Where Are All the Little Green Men?" won gold and silver awards, respectively.

"We've dedicated ourselves to make broadcasts and Web sites that continually grow in their interactivity and offer an ever-increasing amount of resources that teachers can incorporate into their classrooms," Kornmann said. "It's an honor to represent Ball State and our partners at such a high-profile competition as these."

At last year's ceremony, Ball State (with three nominations) was the only university listed as a finalist in multiple categories and the only university to win an award — for Best Use of Technology for Educational Programming.

Nicholas Negroponte of MIT is the only other finalist from a university in this year's competition.

Electronic Field Trip partners include the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum; Space Center Houston/NASA; the National Park Foundation; Garfield and Paws, Inc.; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; and five Smithsonian entities — The Environmental Research Center, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of American History, National Air and Space Museum, and National Museum of Natural History.

(Note to editors: For more information, contact Kornmann at (765) 285-8106 or mkornmann@bsu.edu.)