FIVE SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN NAMED FINALISTS IN "MY SCHOOL PRIDE WEB COMPETITION" - SPONSORED BY NBC.COM AND MICROSOFT -- THAT WILL ALLOW ONE SCHOOL TO WIN A BRAND-NEW WINDOWS 7-POWERED COMPUTER LAB

Five Finalists Chosen by the NBC Show's Producers Are: Northwestern R-1 (Mendon, Mo.), Seven Oak Middle School (Lebanon, Ore.), Peoria High School (Peoria, Ill.), Whatcom Middle School (Bellingham, Wash.) and the Islamic School of Rhode Island (West Warwick, R.I.)

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - November 11, 2010 - Five schools have been chosen as finalists in the NBC.com and Microsoft-sponsored "My School Pride Web Competition." From now until November 29, people can visit www.nbc.com/microsoft to vote for Northwestern R-1 (Mendon, Mo.), Seven Oak Middle School (Lebanon, Ore.), Peoria High School (Peoria, Ill.), Whatcom Middle School (Bellingham, Wash.) or the Islamic School of Rhode Island (West Warwick, R.I.).

Inspired by the NBC series "My School Pride" (Fridays, 8-9 p.m. ET), the school with the most votes will win a brand-new computer lab. The new lab will include 25 HP All-in-One Windows 7 PCs and five finalists will receive a Windows 7 HP laptop.

Each finalist school submitted either a video or a photograph with a short essay explaining why their school needed the Windows 7 PC makeover. On November 5, a panel of judges chose the five finalists. The grand-prize winner will be revealed on December 1 -- and by December 17, one fortunate school will have a new computer lab.

The makeover will be documented in a five-part Web series that will follow the effort from contestant submissions through to the final reveal. The contest is part of "My School Pride," a website designed by NBC.com to give viewers the tools and motivation to increase school pride in their hometowns.

Inspired by its ongoing commitment to education, and NBC's upbeat series "School Pride" (which premiered on October 15), Microsoft has teamed up with NBC.com to extend its "My School Pride" initiative with this online contest.

Complete contest rules can be found at www.nbc.com/microsoft.

"School Pride" is from Horizon Alternative Television. Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") and Denise Cramsey ("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition") are executive producers of "School Pride," from Denise Cramsey Productions and Horizon Alternative Television.