GSN Kicks off Cause-Marketing Vocab Championship

GSN is launching its first-ever nationwide vocabulary competition with a cause-marketing overlay, awarding one student the top prize of $40,000.

The National Vocabulary Championship, open to eligible U.S. high-school students in grades nine through 12, is designed to test students' vocabulary skills through interactive game play. Eligible high schools in the U.S. can enter the championship online at WinWithWords.com and choose from one of 10 exam times between Oct. 27 and Nov. 5. The top 42 scorers will receive an all-expense paid trip to New York City finals slated for February to compete for the $40,000 award and other prizes.

Comcast, Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems and Time Warner Cable will host regional events for the vocabulary challenge.

"This is a passion project for us," Joel Chiodi, VP-marketing and promotions for GSN. "It really fits with the brand."

The contest is the crux behind GSN's first-ever cause-marketing campaign, Win with Words. The initiative features PSAs featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Bergeron, Jeff Probst and Chuck Woolery and the WinWithWords.com Web site. The vocabulary challenge took a year to plan in the making.

The Princeton Review, GSN's educational partner, will provide study materials for students, including sample tests, a word of the day, contest-related podcasts of words and other materials at WinWithWords.com. Other sponsors include Neutrogena, Sony Card, Sharpie, The American Heritage Dictionaries and Mead School Supplies.

"We want to change and engage learning [to be] fun and innovative," Dena Kaplan, senior VP-marketing for GSN, said. "It's so perfect and relevant today. We think we really struck a cultural chord with this."

Online materials support. Civic Entertainment Group, New York, handles.

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