Dig It! was one of six entries from the United States to win a gold award from worldmediafestival, a global competition recognizing excellence in audio-visual modern media.

The Indiana Academy Outreach Programs office also received a silver award for its elementary modern language programming in the training subcategory, learning programs for children.

Dig It! was named the best entry in the education institution subcategory of Web site design. The site was created primarily as an interactive, on-line resource for the first of a three-part series of electronic field trips about dinosaurs.

As a gold award winner, the site will compete with three other winners from Denmark and Canada in the Web site design category as well as best overall entry at an international contest. The awards will be announced May 10 at ceremonies in Hamburg, Germany.

Indiana Academy Web designers Chris Raleigh and Josh Rosentreter worked with paleontologists and education specialists at the Field Museum of Natural History to create the site. Students in grades K-12 and their teachers registered for the field trip to interact with scientists and access additional resources for the classroom.

Similar sites have been developed for five electronic field trips in the 1999-2000 school year. "Sun Unveiled," the third field trip about dinosaurs, is scheduled for a live television broadcast and video streaming May 17 on the World Wide Web.

The Indiana Academy, located at Ball State University, is the state's only public, residential high school. It offers challenging academic courses for about 300 juniors and seniors.

By Marc Ransford, Communications Manager