WGU Announces 'Smarter Way to Learn' Contest Winners

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Aug 13, 2010, 02:48 ET

Online University Awards Top Prize to Nathan Fultz of Dayton, Ohio

SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Western Governors University, www.wgu.edu, has announced the winners in its "Make a Great WGU Commercial Video Contest." The online university awarded the grand prize to Business major Nathan Fultz of Dayton, Ohio. Nathan's 60-second commercial, "Nathan, My Story," garnered a large number of votes from website visitors and the top score from WGU's panel of judges. Fultz will collect a scholarship valued at up to $7,500 and a $500 cash prize.

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Second place in the contest went to James Brahos of Lowell, Indiana, a WGU Indiana student majoring in Information Technology. Brahos will receive a $3,000 scholarship and $500 in cash. Alex Ramirez, an IT major from Hialeah Gardens, Florida, was awarded third prize. Ramirez will choose either $500 in cash or a $2,000 scholarship. Two runners-up were named: Erin Larson, a Science Education major from Federal Way, Washington, and Matt Hepworth, a master's in Mathematics Education student from Antioch, California.

More than 50 videos were submitted for the contest, which began in June, and all entries were posted on WGU's website. Ten finalists were chosen based on the number of votes from website visitors and points assigned by WGU judges. The winners were chosen after another two-week round of website voting. All entries can be viewed at www.wgu.edu/videocontest and on WGU's YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/wgu.

"Our sincere thanks goes to all of the contest entrants," said WGU Vice President of Marketing and Enrollment Patrick Partridge. "The videos were not only fun to watch, they tell real stories that demonstrate why WGU is a smarter way to learn."

All online and competency-based, Western Governors University offers 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, information technology, teacher education, and healthcare professions, including nursing. As a non-profit with a mission to make higher education accessible, WGU strives to keep tuition affordable—tuition for most undergraduate and graduate programs is less than $6,000 per year and has increased less than $200 in the past four years. WGU is self-sustaining on tuition, and does not rely on state or national support to fund its operations. For more information, go to www.wgu.edu, or call 1.866.225.5948.

About Western Governors University (WGU)

"[WGU is] the best relatively cheap university you've never heard of."– TIME magazine

Featured on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, WGU is the only university in the U.S. offering competency-based degree programs and the only non-profit, fully online university in the country. WGU offers degree programs in Business, Education, Information Technology, and Healthcare Professions, including Nursing. Since its inception in 1997, WGU has grown into a national institution, serving more than 19,000 students in all 50 states.

WGU is regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). WGU's Teachers College is the first and only exclusively online provider of teacher education to receive accreditation from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). WGU nursing programs have been accredited by the Commission for Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).

The university has earned the support of more than 20 leading corporations and foundations. They include institutions such as AT&T, Dell, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, Hewlett-Packard, HCA, Microsoft, Oracle, Qwest, SunGard Higher Education, Sun Microsystems, American Express, and Zions Bank. More information is available at www.wgu.edu.

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Contact for enrollment information:

866-225-5948

www.wgu.edu

SOURCE Western Governors University