Certiport Announces U.S. Winners to Compete in Championship Round of Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office

Certiport today announced the U.S. winners of the 2007 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft(R) Office presented by Certiport from a pool of 14,000 other U.S. students: Amanda Coney of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Monica Avenado of Reno, Nevada, were named the pre-college champions while Brian Guidry of Lafayette, Louisiana, and Michael Taylor of Klein, Texas, won the college-track for Microsoft Word and Excel(R), respectively. The four winners were awarded a prize package worth around $2,000 USD, including an all-expense-paid trip to attend the international Certiport PATHWAYS Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, USA. There they will compete in the final round of the annual Competition (July 27-28) against the students named champions in their own countries. These Country Champions--along with more than 33,000 students from 74 countries--participated in multiple rounds of local, national, and regional competitions from November 2006 to May 2007.

SALT LAKE CITY (BusinessWire EON) July 10, 2007 -- More than mere participants in a competition, this year's winners will use their Microsoft Office Specialist certification in 21st Century careers.

"Technology is the door to the world," said Monica Avenado, the pre-college Excel champion who plans to major in international and comparative education. "Being certified is great, no matter what language you speak."

Michael Taylor, the college-level champion for Excel said, "You can do anything with Microsoft Office. With Excel you can create spreadsheets to predict the future, analyze the past, and control what's going on today. Microsoft Office directly helps people in everything they do electronically."

In the upcoming final round of the Worldwide Competition only one Excel winner and one Word winner from each of the two tracks will earn the prestigious distinction of being World Champion. Each Champion will receive a trophy and a grand prize package worth over $4,500 USD. The package includes a Dell(TM) Notebook Computer with Windows Vista(TM) and Microsoft Office 2003, Pocket PC Phone with Microsoft(R) Windows Mobile(TM), Microsoft(R) Zune(TM) MP3 player, Microsoft(R) Xbox 360(TM) Console and Game Bundle, Microsoft(R) Learning Courseware, e-Learning, and Certification Bundle. Other 2007 Country Champions of the Competition include:

Country Champions - Microsoft Word

Canada - Elizabeth Reymundo, College

Costa Rica - Flor Cubillo Zamora, Pre-college

El Salvador - Luis Rodolfo Hasbun, Pre-college

France - Odile Boutley, College

Germany - Michael Werner, College

Greece - Antonios Vidalis, Pre-college

Greece - John Lianeris, College

Ireland - Rachel Gaul, Pre-college

Italy - Alessio Montrella, College

Japan - Chiemi Sato, Pre-college

Jordan - Omar Saeb Khresat, Pre-college

Lebanon - Ali Ahmad Wazni, College

Mexico - Diana Elizabeth Perez Marquez, College

Singapore - Yi Rui Chua, Pre-college

Singapore - Lup Peng Loke, College

Taiwan - Rou-Jhen Wei, Pre-college

Taiwan - Yi Shuang Tong, College

Thailand - Khunvattanakarn Kasidej, Pre-college

United Kingdom - Michael Pilkington, Pre-college

Country Champions - Microsoft Excel

Canada - Annie Phan, College

China - Hongyi Hong Qiu, College

France - Adeline Porcher, College

Germany - Robin Trager, Pre-college

Greece - Angeliki Margatini, Pre-college

Greece - Aikaterini Logotheti, College

Ireland - Kevin O'Brien, Pre-college

Italy - Roberto Scarpetta, College

Japan - Ikumi Nagao, College

Jordan - Moh'd Salah Z. Al-Shariff, College

Lebanon - Marwa Baz Rahawi, College

Mexico - Sandra Guadalupe Zubiria Garces, Pre-college

Singapore - Li Gang Lincoln Lin, Pre-college

Singapore - Jonah Victor Dela Cruz, College

Taiwan - Hsin-Fu Shen, Pre-college

Taiwan - Zhi-Yang Chen, College

Thailand - Khamyong Chatchanwan, College

United Kingdom - Rachael Farrington, Pre-college

United Kingdom - Angela Sawyer, College

For more information about the 2007 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office presented by Certiport, visit www.certiport.com/competition.

ABOUT CERTIPORT

Certiport prepares individuals and communities with current and relevant digital skills and credentials for the competitive global workforce. These solutions include Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC(3)(R)) and the Microsoft(R) Office Specialist certification programs delivered by more than 12,000 Certiport Centers worldwide. For more information, visit www.certiport.com.

"Certiport" and "IC(3)" are registered trademarks of Certiport, Inc. in the United States and other countries. "Microsoft" is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.