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With 352 days to go until the opening ceremony on Lake Neusiedl, part of a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, the organizers of the quadrennial ISAF World Sailing Games are now searching for the next piece in the preparations puzzle - the event mascot. They have called upon the students from the state of Burgenland (where Lake Neusiedl is located) to aid them in their quest. The result should be the talisman of the ISAF World Sailing Games which will result from a drawing and creative competition.

The project was presented to the media by Landesschulrat (the Provincial Board of Education) president Dr. Gerhard RESCH, General Manager of the ISAF World Sailing Games, Koloman WATZEK and 1996 Olympic gold medallist on the Mistral, Christoph SIEBER (AUT) at a press conference. 'The intention is to make aware the relevance of this event to the students and to bring the students to sports, especially sailing,' said RESCH.

The deadline for the competition is the 10 June. A prominent jury with SIEBER, Dr. Gerhard RESCH, Lady Gaby SCHWARZ, Heike KRÖMER from Austrian newspaper, KURIER, and WATZEK will choose the three best drafts in a preliminary decision. Then the readers of KURIER will vote for the winner. This draft will be the basis for the creation of the mascot.

'It's important to integrate the population into the ISAF World Sailing Games 2006,' explained WATZEK. 'Youth especially is our concern. That's why we are looking for school co-operations in many scopes. We already work together with the PANNONEUM Neusiedl am See and the University of Advanced Sciences in Eisenstadt. The last step was to call up students/schools to help us find a mascot.'