Toronto, ON – Grade six students at Fielding Drive Public School in Ottawa, ON welcomed acclaimed Canadian children’s author Kenneth Oppel into their classroom today, thanks to the GMAC Great Canadian Writing Contest, a national, bilingual contest made possible by Founding Sponsor General Motors Acceptance Corporation of Canada, Limited (GMAC) and managed by ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation.

In the contest, grade five and six students across the country are invited to submit an original short story to be judged for possible publication. An early-bird draw was established to encourage early participation, and the Ottawa class won the chance to meet Oppel when one of its students’ names was drawn.

“We are honoured to have Kenneth Oppel visit our students,” said Barbara Lloyd, principal of Fielding Drive Public School. “Literacy is a main focus for our school and permeates everything we do. It’s great to have Mr. Oppel share his experience and skill with our students to help further encourage them to practise their own reading and writing.”

Oppel, himself published at the ripe age of 17, is the author of such books as Skybreaker, Airborn and the Silverwing, Sunwing and Firewing saga, and received the 2004 Governor General’s Literary Award for Children’s Text. He enthused that the GMAC Great Canadian Writing Contest” is a very exciting program to get kids writing and expressing their creativity.” During his visit, Oppel spoke with the grade five class about his books and his writing process, offering tips to the young writers and encouraging them to continue practising their literacy skills.

The students at Fielding Drive Public School, a middle school for grades 4 to 8 English and grades 5 to 8 early French immersion, also enjoyed a pizza lunch and received gift packages, courtesy of GMAC representative Simon Giroux, the Area Sales Manager for Northeastern Ontario who also attended the event.

There is still a little time left for grade five and six students to enter the judged portion of the writing contest - their entries must be received by ABC CANADA no later than 5:00 pm ET, April 16, 2007. There will be 13 first-place provincial and territorial winners and five regional winners published together in a book. In addition to the publishing prizes, there are also prizes to be won by up to 26 second- and third-place provincial and territorial winners, and five regional winners will win a donation of $1,000 worth of books for their schools, libraries or family literacy programs, courtesy of HarperCollinsCanada, Kenneth Oppel’s publisher.

The winning stories will be announced mid-May. The entry form and all contest details are available at: www.gmacgreatcanadianwritingcontest.ca.

Media: For a picture of Kenneth Oppel and the students, please contact Karen Benner at kbenner@abc-canada.org or 416-218-0010 ext. 122

Media contacts:

GMAC: Sarah Coronel, Marketing and Communications Supervisor: 416-234-6322 or 1-800-599-8826, ext. 6322; sarah.coronel@gm.com

The GMAC Great Canadian Writing Contest is made possible due to Founding Sponsor General Motors Acceptance Corporation of Canada, Limited (GMAC) and is managed by ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation.

Partners for 2007 are: Asia Pulp and Paper Co. Ltd.; Dave Whamond/ Threeinabox.com; grafikom MIL, HarperCollinsCanada; J’aime Lire Magazine; Mattel Canada; Maud Street Printing Services; OWL Magazine; and Sharp Electronics of Canada.

General Motors Acceptance Corporation of Canada, Limited (GMAC), is a subsidiary of GMAC LLC, a Delaware corporation. GMAC’s financing operations offer a wide range of financial services and products (directly and indirectly) to retail automotive consumers, and automotive dealerships. These products and services include the purchase of installment sales contracts and leases and extending floor plan and other lines of credit primarily to GM dealers. www.gmac.ca