NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 09/17/09 -- The First National Tween Girl Summit 2009 announces that JSYK.com (http://www.jsyk.com) and Sharpie® have been confirmed as official sponsors of this year's groundbreaking event.

The daylong Summit will examine the minds, motivation and lives of tween girls, giving them a platform to share their thoughts and opinions on a range of subjects. Over 300 tween girls from around the country will convene with policy makers, experts, and celebrities to discuss a wide range of topics. Parents, politicians and marketers will have the opportunity to hear directly from the girls about what's important to them -- from their struggles with peer and parental pressure, to government policy affecting their lives, to what motivates them to buy what they buy.

In addition to their sponsorship commitment, each company will contribute time and energy to enrich the girls' experience at The Summit. AOL's JSYK.com -- which focuses on entertainment and news content exclusively for the tween audience -- will host a booth in The Summit's main exhibit hall where a sweepstakes will offer a free notebook computer, and will also give away goody bag giveaways and provide other fun opportunities. Throughout the day, JSYK.com will be covering the event by posting photos and videos from The Summit, along with tween reporters' experiences and posting interviews with the celebrity performers at the evening's Red Carpet event.

Sharpie® will be active at the Tween Summit donating a pack of Sharpie® permanent markers to each tween participant. The girls will be using them to take notes during The Summit, decorate their commemorative binders, and to write on the "White House Wall."

"Tweens are an important consumer, and their collective opinions create a significant financial impact. Tweens like to shop for themselves, and their opinions also influence the expensive household purchases of their parents," states Denise Restauri, founder of The Tween Summit, AK Tweens, and AllyKatzz.com. "Savvy, forward-thinking organizations recognize the tremendous value of the tween market, and we're very excited to have AOL's JSYK.com and Sharpie® as official Tween Summit sponsors."

AOL and Sharpie® have joined Electronic Arts Inc. (http://www.ea.com) (NASDAQ: ERTS), the leading global entertainment software company, as official sponsors of the First National Tween Girl Summit. These sponsors join previously announced Tween Summit sponsors PBteen, Disney Book Group, Sephora USA, Inc., Popstar! Magazine, Fundex Games, Ltd., Daisy Rock Girl Guitars, D'Addario Strings, and Chit Chat Beauty.

ABOUT JSYK.COM

AOL's JSYK.com -- Just So You Know -- is a teen pop culture site covering every LOL and OMG celebrity moment and everything in beTWEEN including the latest on music, movies, TV, news and just dealing with everyday life. To find out more information about this interactive tween Site, visit www.jsyk.com.

ABOUT SHARPIE®

For more than 40 years, Sharpie® has been the popular brand of permanent marker associated with the autograph experience. Today Sharpie® offers more than 30 varieties of permanent markers and two Sharpie® no-bleed pens for everyday writing. For more information about Sharpie® and its products, visit www.sharpieuncapped.com.

ABOUT AK TWEENS & ALLYKATZZ.COM

AK Tweens is the leading consulting, research and marketing company that captures the thoughts and opinions of tweenage girls and is built around one of the country's largest COPPA compliant tween girl social networking sites, AllyKatzz.com. 100,000 tweenage girl members come to AllyKatzz.com to share uncensored information about what's going on in their worlds: opinions, ideas, dreams, people, places, products and trends. AK Tweens is able to translate their thoughts and opinions from "tweenage chatter" into valuable feedback for companies seeking a more meaningful and beneficial relationship with the tween girl market. AK Tweens Founder and CEO, Denise Restauri, is the country's foremost expert on tweenage girls and is a frequent commentator on national television, newspapers, magazines and radio programs including CBS Early Show, BBC America, The Today Show, ABC, NPR, E!Online, USA TODAY, People Magazine, among many other outlets. For more information visit www.aktweens.com.

           First National Tween Girl Summit at the Historic Capital Hilton
                         October 10, 2009, 8:00am - 10:30pm
                   1001 16th Street NW -- Washington, D.C.  20036
                                www.TweenSummit.com