January 31, 2006

The Funky Banana® and Lamar Outdoor Advertising
Artists Team To Judge Regional TSA Competition

Creative team Kristi Halsey, Tiffany Riggs, and Amanda Holmes were honored with an invitation to judge submissions at the West Tennessee Regional Competiion for Technology Student Association. Halsey and Riggs, graphic artists for The Funky Banana®, Huntingdon, teamed with Amanda Holmes, graphic artist for Lamar Outdoor Advertising, to grade and select winners in the promotional graphics division for West Tennessee high schools and middle schools at the competition held Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Winners from regional competitions all over the United States will compete at state levels, and then on to national competition. The 28th annual National TSA Conference will be held in Dallas, Texas June 21-25 for 2006. Annual national conferences are scheduled throughout the United States in a select major city. Promotional graphics competitors are given the upcoming year's conference theme for their creative subject material. 2006 enteries submitted materials on "Breaking down boundaries" - the national TSA conference theme for 2007. The national winner's art will appear on conference brochures distributed throughout the organization.

The Technology Student Association (TSA) is a non-profit national student organization devoted to teaching technology education to young people. TSA's mission is to inspire its student members to prepare for careers in a technology-driven economy and culture. The demand for technological expertise is escalating in American industry. Therefore, TSA's teachers strive to promote technological literacy, leadership, and problem solving to their student membership.

TSA members learn problem-solving, decision-making, critical thinking and leadership skills as they relate to design, communications, power, energy, transportation, engineering, manufacturing, construction and biotechnology. The organization is a pro-active effort to strive to meet the educational needs and challenges of all students in an increasingly and ever-changing technological world.

Now serving more than 200,000 K-12 students nationwide, TSA is the only student organization dedicated exclusively to students enrolled in technology education classes and is recognized by the U.S. Dept of Education, many state education agencies, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the International Technology Education Association and the National Coordinating Council of Career and Technical Student Organizations. The majority of TSA's membership consists of high school students representing in excess of 2,000 schools from 47 states nationwide.

Kristi Halsey, owner and graphic artist and Tiffany Riggs, store manager and graphic artist of The Funky Banana®, Huntingdon, have a combined experience of over thirty years in the graphics industry. The Funky Banana® offers custom-designed apparel, full-print shop services, web design and hosting, applied vinyl in a rainbow of colors or full-color output - ranging from window decals to vehicle wraps to billboards. The company is an ASI Product Resource Professional Associate, and an official dealer for Carlson Craft and Royal Imprints. For more information about The Funky Banana® visit www.TheFunkyBanana.com

Amanda Holmes, graphic arts manager has been with Lamar-Jackson for four years. Lamar Advertising Company is one of the largest and most experienced owners and operators of outdoor advertising structures in the United States. Lamar currently operates over 150 outdoor advertising companies in over 40 states and is the nation's leader in the highway logo sign business, with operations in 20 of the 25 states that have privatized their logo programs as well as in the province of Ontario, Canada. Logo signs are signs located near highway exits that deliver brand name information on available gas, food, lodging and camping services. Currently, Lamar operates more than 149,000 billboards and more than 97,500 logo sign displays across the country. For more information about Lamar Advertising, visit www.lamar.com.