AND THE Winner IS.

We received exactly 9,322 entries in our "Predict the Electoral Vote!" contest. How many students filled in the map correctly--including Florida? Exactly one. Pamela Younts of Clay County Middle School in Manchester, Kentucky, guessed all 50 states correctly. (Like the U.S. Supreme Court, she delivered Florida to George W. Bush.)

Congratulations, Pamela! She wins a $500 U.S. Savings Bond and Harry Potter books. Special mention also goes to Katlyne A. Forquer of Minnesota's Charlotte High School. Katlyne got every state but one correct. She thought Wisconsin's 11 electoral votes would go to Bush. Al Gore actually won that state.

We thank all of you who entered our contest. For you 9,321 who didn't get it right, cheer up. Neither did we editors. A few alert readers notified us that our electoral map on page 5 of the 11/13/2000, issue contained an error. We projected Minnesota for Bush. It actually went to Gore.

We regret the error. In our defense, we were working under great pressure Election Night--and in the days following--to get a wrap-up of the results to your classrooms.

We learned in this election that every vote does count. We hope you'll be inspired to get involved in the political process!