(Montvale, NJ, May 12, 2004) - SYS-CON Media, the world's leading i-technology magazine publisher, today announced that LinuxWorld Magazine was awarded by Public Relations Society of America for Excellence in Technology Journalism..

This year's awards were given to Dee-Ann LeBlanc of LinuxWorld (www.LinuxWorld.com), Lev Grossman of Time, and Noah Rothbaum of SmartMoney. The awards were presented to the winners at a special ceremony at the University of Pennsylvania's Houston Hall during Tech2004, PRSA's seventh annual national technology conference. This year's conference was co-sponsored by the PRSA Technology Section and the PRSA Philadelphia chapter.

Dee-Ann LeBlanc of LinuxWorld won in the trade/technical publications category for her article, "Open Source Development: Shared Values Make Open Source Work," (www.linuxworld.com/story/34250.htm?DE=1) which appeared in the December 2003 issue of LinuxWorld Magazine, published by SYS-CON. LeBlanc's article describes how "shared values are the glue that holds the open source community together," calling this "the single biggest thing that many journalists and skeptics still haven't grasped."

Dee-Ann LeBlanc, industry editor of LinuxWorld Magazine, has been involved with Linux since 1994. Dee-Ann is the author of 12 books, 230 articles, and has more of both coming. She is an i-technology trainer, a courseware developer and a founding member of the AnswerSquad, and a highly regarded consultant in the industry. Dee-Ann also participated in the development of the official Red Hat online courseware at DigitalThink.

Lev Grossman of Time magazine won in the general publications category for his story, "It's All Free," which appeared in the May 5, 2003 issue of Time, published by Time Warner. Grossman's article describes the ongoing battle between the music industry and individuals who use computers illegally to download music and movies for free.

Noah Rothbaum of SmartMoney won in the business/financial publications category for "Incredible Shrinking Phones" and "All is Lost," a two-part series that ran in the April and October 2003 issues of SmartMoney magazine, owned by Hearst Communications and Dow Jones & Company. His article describes how cell phones have evolved from the hefty 2-1/2 pound brick-size phones of the early 80s to today's lightweight units.

"We were extremely pleased with the quality of entries in this competition," said Joel A. Strasser, of the PRSA Tech2004 Honors and Awards Committee. "Based on the judging criteria, we felt the winners exceeded our expectations on the basis of value to readers, clarity of communications, and significance in terms of technical innovation and newsworthiness." The three entries finished first in their respective categories from a total field of 160 entries for work published from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2003. Each winner received a cash prize award of $1,000 as well as a crystal award trophy.

"This recent award honoring to Dee-Ann, LinuxWorld and SYS-CON is another result of our commitment to excellence in journalism," said Jeremy Geelan, group publisher of SYS-CON Media. "Just as Dee-Ann LeBlanc is an ardent and enthusiastic supporter of Linux, so SYS-CON is an ardent and enthusiastic supporter of journalistic excellence. Dee-Ann's well deserved award is a credit to LinuxWorld Magazine and validates our aim to bring the best possible editorial coverage on i-technology in the best possible order, via our range of interrelated magazines -- of which there are now fourteen in all. By publishing only the top writers, we continue to serve our subscribers, and online readers, as the most respected voice of the entire i-technology community."

The awards were judged by a distinguished panel of 11 peer judges, all members of the national editorial community representing the types of journalism practiced by each of the two winners. Judges for this year's competition included Jeff Benjamin, Crain's Investment News; Mike Cahill, CNBC, Rich Friedman, Storage Magazine; Philip Gallagher, CeBIT News Media Network, England; Susan Hassler, IEEE Spectrum; Aaron W. Huff, Commercial Carrier Journal Magazine; Richard S. Mandel, Designfax Magazine; Larry Marion, Triangle Publishing Services Co. Inc.; Mike Martin, NewsFactor Networks; Eric J. Savitz, Barron's and Christopher Simmons, Crossmedia.

The award for SYS-CON Media was accepted by Dee-Ann LeBlanc, industry editor, Kevin Bedell, editor-in-chief, and Jennifer Van Winckel, managing editor of LinuxWorld Magazine.

About the PRSA Technology Section
The PRSA Technology Section (www.tech.prsa.org) is an organization of communications professionals who develop, implement and counsel regarding public relations or marketing communications programs and activities for technology companies, and practitioners who work at technology organizations or who use emerging technologies to conduct their routine business.

About PRSA
The Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org), based in New York City, is the world's largest organization for public relations professionals helping to advance the profession and the professional. Its nearly 20,000 members, organized into 116 Chapters nationwide, 18 Professional Interest Sections along with Affinity Groups, represent business and industry, counseling firms, independent practitioners, military, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms, and nonprofit organizations.

About SYS-CON Media

SYS-CON Media, listed in Inc 500 three years in a row as the fastest growing, privately held publishing company in America, is the world's leading publisher exclusively serving i-technology markets. SYS-CON publications include: Java Developer's Journal (www.JavaDevelopersJournal.com), .NET Developer's Journal (www.sys-con.com/dotnet), Web Services Journal (www.WSJ2.com), Wireless Business & Technology (www.WBT2.com), XML-Journal (www.XML-Journal.com), WebSphere Journal (www.sys-con.com/websphere), BEA WebLogic Developer's Journal (www.WeblogicDevelopersJournal.com), ColdFusion Developer's Journal (www.ColdFusionJournal.com), PowerBuilder Developer's Journal (www.PowerBuilderJournal.com), and Linux Business Week (www.LinuxBusinessWeek.com), and LinuxWorld Magazine (www.linuxworld.com), MX Developer's Journal (www.MXDevelopersJournal.com), and Information Storage & Security Journal (www.issjournal.com).

About SYS-CON Events, Inc.
SYS-CON Events, Inc. (www.sys-con.com) is the world's leading producer of i-technology developer conferences and expositions. SYS-CON Events' 2004 conference and expo calendar includes: Edge 2004 East - Development Technologies Exchange, which took place February 24 - 26, 2004 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA.

All company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies in the United States and other countries. SYS-CON is independent of Sun and all other companies mentioned in this press release.

LinuxWorld is the registered trademark of International Data Group, Inc. SYS-CON is using the mark pursuant to a license agreement from IDG.

Contact:
Jennifer Van Winckel (editorial)
Company: SYS-CON Media
Voice: 201 802-3052
E-mail: jennifer@sys-con.com

Carmen Gonzalez (advertising)
Company: SYS-CON Media
Voice: 201 802-3021
E-mail: carmen@sys-con.com