NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 9, 2007--Who's next up to change the world? With enterprising ideas such as micro-lending and sustainable technology receiving so much attention, NOW, the award-winning newsmagazine from PBS, and Ashoka, the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs, are creating and judging a competition to discover a breakthrough social entrepreneur.

NOW and Ashoka will select finalists from ideas submitted on NOW's Enterprising Ideas website (http://www.pbs.org/enterprisingideas). Site visitors will vote for and choose a winner, whose efforts to secure financing, gain support, and measure impact will be chronicled regularly by NOW Online. The winner will be featured on the NOW broadcast, which is seen by nearly 2 million people each week on PBS and will be linked to Ashoka's website.

"The PBS mission encourages our viewers to 'Be More, and Do More.' Project Enterprise is a great way to see what it takes to hatch and execute an amazing idea with a sustainable business model," said NOW Executive Producer John Siceloff. "This is the first time a social entrepreneur will be voted on and followed in this way, and we hope it inspires as much as it enlightens."

"Ashoka's investment in leading social entrepreneurs has yielded a large group of global role models creating powerful social change," said Beverly Schwartz, Ashoka's Vice President for Global Marketing. "Together, NOW and Ashoka can share the impact of social entrepreneurs with PBS's viewing and on-line communities and help build a world where everyone can be a changemaker."

Nominations will be accepted through the end of July online at: http://www.pbs.org/now/enterprisingideas/project-enterprise.html

The ideal nominee will be someone who is launching or has recently launched a project that draws on business practices as well as other innovative strategies to achieve a social mission and that has potential to lead to widescale pattern change. Finalists will be announced in August. The competition winner will be announced in September, then followed with coverage deep into 2008.

ABOUT NOW

The Emmy-winning PBS weekly newsmagazine NOW engages viewers with documentary segments and insightful interviews that probe the most important issues facing democracy, including media policy, corporate accountability, civil liberties, the environment, money in politics, and foreign affairs. Hosted by award-winning veteran journalist David Brancaccio, NOW is a production of JumpStart Productions, LLC, in association with Thirteen/WNET New York. The show can also be accessed through On-Demand television, audio podcasting, video podcasting, and streaming video on the NOW website at www.pbs.org/now. "Enterprising Ideas" is a NOW spotlight on social innovation and business-modeled initiatives to make the world a better place.

ABOUT ASHOKA

Ashoka is the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs - men and women with system-changing solutions for the world's most urgent social problems. Since its founding in 1981, Ashoka has built a network of more than 1,800 leading social entrepreneurs in over 60 countries. Ashoka, along with its Fellows and collaborative networks, designs and builds new ways for the citizen sector to become more entrepreneurial, productive and globally integrated. Learn more at www.ashoka.org.

Copyright Business Wire 2007

NOW on PBS

NOW on PBS

The Emmy-winning PBS weekly newsmagazine NOW engages viewers with documentary segments and insightful interviews that probe the most important issues facing democracy, including media policy, corporate accountability, civil liberties, the environment, money in politics, and foreign affairs. Hosted by award-winning veteran journalist David Brancaccio, NOW is a production of JumpStart Productions, LLC, in association with Thirteen/WNET New York. The show can also be accessed through On-Demand television, audio podcasting, video podcasting, and streaming video on the NOW website at www.pbs.org/now. "Enterprising Ideas" is a NOW spotlight on social innovation and business-modeled initiatives to make the world a better place.

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