February 7, 2003

Dear Editor:

We are pleased to announce that Arun N. Toké, executive editor of Skipping Stones, has been honored by The Writer magazine with the 2002 Writer Award.

The Writer Awards celebrate and recognize writers who, through their work, contribute to the community of writers, bring about changes in the publishing field, or use their writing to make a difference by informing, inspiring and motivating others.

For the 2002 awards, a panel of six judges reviewed more than 300 nominations and selected Mr. Toké along with five others for this honor. Other honorees include Madeleine L'Engle, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Donna Seaman, Jason Shinder and the New York Times for its Portraits of Grief series.

Mr. Toké was honored for his work with Skipping Stones magazine, which plants seeds of peace and tolerance by weaving together writing and artwork by youth with issues of peace, social justice and ecological awareness.

Skipping Stones is now in its 15th year of publication.

We invite you to mention this news item to your readers/viewers, and we thank you for continuing to promote multicultural awareness and nature appreciation.