FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Judie Mulligan, mulligaj@fleishman.com
Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations, 415.356.1086
SAN FRANCISCO’S SOUTH PARK GOES PUBLIC
Webby Awards To Manage South Park’s IPO – Initial Pumpkin Offering
Money Raised From IPO Celebration To Benefit BAVC’s JobLink Program
SAN FRANCISCO (October 26, 1999) – The Webby Awards today announced that a registration statement has been filed for South Park’s IPO (initial pumpkin offering).
At its 1999 Halloween event, The Webby Awards will be offering pumpkins to the people of South Park and the Bay Area Internet community on October 29, 1999 from 4:00 to 6:30 PM in South Park to benefit the non profit BAVC’s JobLink program. The Webby Awards will be offering an undisclosed amount of pumpkin shares at an initial pumpkin-offering price of $5 per share. Upon receipt of said pumpkin, members of the costume-wearing public will be expected to carve it, with options to submit said pumpkins to carving contests.
“This will certainly be one IPO without a quiet period,” said Tiffany Shlain, Director and Founder of The Webby Awards.
The seed for this pumpkin-carving contest was planted by John Bates of BIGWORDS.com, who will undoubtedly attend the event in his especially timely orange jumpsuit. After meeting with John, the Webby Awards Team worked to harvest this Initial Pumpkin Offering. All parties involved agree that South Park is ready to go public.
The Initial Pumpkin Offering will benefit the non-profit BAVC’s JobLink program. JobLink, BAVC’s innovative workforce development program, is working to close the digital divide by training low-income workers for high-tech careers in the multimedia industry.
South Park’s glorious IPO celebration will feature:
- Amazing works of giant pumpkin art courtesy of The Brothers McAuliffe (www.pumpkincarver.com)
- A 400 lb. pumpkin!
- Pumpkin carving competitions (Speed Carve, Team Carve)
- FREE BEER, provided by Lagunitas Brewing Co.
- Spooky costumes
- Creepy prizes
Interested parties should RSVP to rsvp@webbyawards.com.
Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and eHow.com are acting as lead underwriters of the offering, while Abovenet, BIGWORDS.com and Freestyle Interactive are participating as seed funders. The Lagunitas Brewing Co. will be coordinating the event’s FREE BEER policies and Bartenders Unlimited will be supplying additional services. Metropolis Editorial will be operating the official IPO pumpkin-cam.
Disclaimer:
A registration statement relating to these pumpkins has been filed but has not yet become effective. These pumpkins may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the party in South Park. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell pumpkins or the solicitation of an offer to buy pumpkins, nor shall there be any sale of these pumpkins in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale of pumpkins would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the pumpkin laws of any such state.
“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding the pumpkin business or pumpkin-carving competitions that are not historical facts are “Forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of pumpkin-related risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see “Risk Factors” in the South Park SPHRC prospectus.
About The Webby Awards
The Webby Awards are the leading creative honors for digital media. Nominees and winners are chosen by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The Webby Awards are an IDG event. Sponsors for the 2000 Webby Awards include: Hewlett-Packard, Visa, Warburg Dillon Read, Xpedior, vivid studios, BeSeen, AboveNet, Metropolis, Access Magazine, Tipworld, Artbyte, LinkExchange, MacWorld. Balloting is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. For more information, visit http://www.webbyawards.com.
About the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences is dedicated to the creative, technical, and professional progress of new media. The goal of the Academy is to assemble a unique and brilliant panel of leading new media experts, Web visionaries, journalists, and luminaries to propel the new medium into and through the new millennium. There are currently over 200 members, including diverse experts such as film director Francis Ford Coppola, musician David Bowie, Chairman of Miramax Talk Media Tina Brown, cyberguru Esther Dyson, “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams, Infoseek Chairman Steve Kirsch, and computer scientist Jaron Lanier, as well as writers and editors from publications such as Wired, Details, Fast Company, Elle, ARTBYTE, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Forbes, Premier, PC World, and Jane. For more information, visit http://www.iadas.net.
About JobLink:
JobLink, BAVC’s workforce development program of multimedia training and job
placement for low-income San Francisco residents, was created in 1997 to bridge the
digital divide between soaring high-tech endeavors and unskilled workers left in
the wake. With seed funding from the Mayor’s Office of Community Development and the continued support of dozens of corporations and foundations, JobLink has
trained nearly 200 people for multimedia jobs in the digital economy. Due to
support from both the public and private sector, JobLink can thoroughly train new
workers in a 16-week intensive program using the most current digital technologies.
JobLink has since become the most advanced job-training program in digital
technologies in the nation. This year, the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development awarded JobLink its prestigious *Best Practices* award,
recognizing the best community programs that are creating solutions to housing and
workforce development challenges. Only 100 awards were given from over 3,400
nominations.
For more information on The Webby Awards, see http://www.webbyawards.com. For more information on IADAS, see http://www.iadas.net.