Cellular South Fans' Choice Award Voting Begins

Fans to Vote for Favorite Mississippi Baseball Player

JACKSON, MS -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 05/12/08 -- Cellular South, a leader in helping consumers get the most out of their wireless services, is once again giving Mississippi baseball fans the chance to weigh in on their choice for the best collegiate baseball player in the state as voting begins for the Cellular South Fans' Choice Award.

The Cellular South Fans' Choice Award features the top three Mississippi college baseball superstars who are finalists for the Cellular South Ferriss Trophy, Mississippi college baseball's highest honor. While professional scouts, college coaches and a sports media representative will decide who deserves the Cellular South Ferriss Trophy, hardball fans across the state can begin voting to determine which finalist is the fan-favorite and should win the Cellular South Fans' Choice Award.

From May 12 through May 19, Cellular South text messaging customers can vote for the following finalists by text messaging the identification number for their favorite player to "BUNT" (2868). All non-Cellular South customers can still get in on the action by casting a vote for their favorite player via the Web at www.cellularsouth.com/fanschoice.

-- Scott Bittle, P, Ole Miss ID# 1 -- Tyler Conn, P, University of Southern Mississippi ID# 2 -- Rickey Noland, C, Delta State University ID# 3

The winner of the Cellular South Fans' Choice Award will be announced during the Cellular South Outstanding Player Awards Ceremony, which will take place Monday, May 19, at 7 p.m. at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson, Miss. The Cellular South Fans' Choice Award winner will receive a $2,500 contribution to his college athletic department.

"The major change with the 2008 Cellular South Fans' Choice Award is that we've added an online option to give everyone the opportunity to vote for their top baseball player online at www.cellularsouth.com/fanschoice," said Orien Watson, sports marketing manager for Cellular South. "This is a great way for fans of all the schools and players involved in the vote to be heard loud and clear, and it will be interesting to see which fan base gets out the vote."

HOW TO VOTE

The voting lines are now open, and Cellular South customers with text messaging features can follow these simple steps to lock in their top pick for the Cellular South Fans' Choice Award:

-- Between 7:00 p.m. on Monday, May 12, and 7:15 p.m. on Monday, May 19, fans can text message a player identification number to "BUNT" (2688) to vote for their favorite player. -- Fans can also visit www.cellularsouth.com/fanschoice and click on their favorite player to cast their vote. -- Replay. Fans can vote as often as they like to advance their choice for the best Mississippi college baseball player.

The Cellular South Ferriss Trophy and Cellular South Fans' Choice Awards are part of Cellular South's Outstanding Player Awards, administered by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. The award series also includes the Cellular South Howell Trophy, honoring Mississippi's best collegiate men's basketball player of the year, Cellular South Gillom Trophy, honoring the best collegiate women's basketball player, and the Cellular South Conerly Trophy, honoring Mississippi's best collegiate football player. For more information on the Cellular South Fans' Choice Award and the entire Cellular South Outstanding Player Awards series, please visit http://www.cellularsouth.com/csopa. Standard text messaging fees apply to all text message voting.

The Cellular South Fans' Choice Award is managed by Cellular South as a separate program and has no bearing on the official judging of the Cellular South Ferriss Trophy.

About Cellular South

Cellular South is diversified mobile communications company passionately committed to helping customers get the most out of their wireless devices and services. The company accomplishes this goal by providing the most reliable and advanced nationwide wireless voice and data network, offering a full range of industry-leading unlimited flat rate plans and through the world's first integrated, interactive online and in-store experience that gives customers easy, simple and convenient anytime, anywhere solutions to all of their wireless lifestyle needs. For more information, visit www.cellularsouth.com

For more information, contact: Kevin Dietz CKPR for Cellular South 312/616-6526 kdietz@ckpr.biz

2008-05-12 20:00:39 0359471 MARKETWIRE