GTE Directories is recognized for innovation, community service, and cover design.

DALLAS -- GTE Directories was honored by the Yellow Pages industry on Sept. 30 with five APPY Awards presented at the tenth annual Yellow Pages Publishers Association (YPPA) convention, held in Las Vegas, Nev.

The association annually recognizes leaders in the Yellow Pages directory industry with the APPY Awards Program. Recipients receive a Gold, Silver or Bronze award. Each entry for the APPY Award is judged on several factors including the quality and scope of the original research in identifying a problem or new opportunity; the uniqueness of the solutions developed; the strategies and techniques that are employed as well as the cost effectiveness and presentation of the product.

Winning the APPY Award is truly an honor for GTE Directories. The fact that we won two awards for innovation and two awards for our international operations demonstrates that GTE is working hard to develop advertising solutions that will meet the unique challenges facing businesses in todays competitive, global economy, said President Earl A. Goode. I also want to congratulate our employees for our award-winning community service program. Teaching children in our communities about the Internet and Internet safety is the real achievement. eing recognized for this work is just a bonus.

GTE Directories was recognized with a Silver APPY Award for its Internet Guide in The Everything Pages Directory in the Innovation in Printed Materials category. GTEs Internet Guide is a comprehensive Internet-related advertising resource, containing valuable, easy-to-use consumer-driven information for anyone looking for information about the using the Internet or computer-related information overall.

In the community service category, GTE Directories was recognized with a Bronze APPY Award for its Amazing Yellow Adventure Bus Tour. The bus is a unique mobile marketing and community service vehicle. Traveling all over the country and visiting elementary schools along the way, the Amazing Yellow Adventure teaches school-age children about the Internet and allows them to experience interactive products firsthand, in many cases for the first time.

GTE Directories and GTE Labs were recognized in the Technical Innovation category for developing the SuperPages Back Office and Operations System. Containing data for over 11 million business listings, it is easy to update and reduces expenses by making information available to customers and employees, allowing them to quickly make changes to their information.

GTE Directories Canadian operations, Dominion Directory Information Services also won two APPY Awards. The company won the Gold APPY Award in the Directory Cover category for the second year in a row. The Think Yellow cover is not only graphically successful, but builds on the success of BC TELs Yellow Pages Think Yellow advertising campaign, reinforcing the advertisers smart decision to advertise in the directory, as well as the value of using it in the shopping process.

Dominion Directory Information Services was also recognized with a Silver Award for Innovation in Sales and Marketing for developing an interactive direct mail program. To generate awareness for the Kitsilano Directory, Dominion developed a miniature directory that, when opened, generated a computer chip telephone ring. The copy read, Let the New Kitsilano Directory Make Your Phone Ring. This was supported by fax-on-demand information and a contest to win a free trip to San Francisco.

GTE Directories is a leader in linking buyers and sellers through effective advertising and information media. The company provides sales and other directory-related services for approximately 2,400 directory titles, including GTEs The Everything Pages directories, in 16 countries with a total circulation of 84 million. It also develops and markets new media services such as GTEs SuperPages Interactive Service, a premier Internet-based advertising and information resource.

The company was named a 1994 winner of the Malcolm Baldrigde National Quality Award, which recognizes U.S. companies that have outstanding quality management systems. GTE Directories is a unit of GTE Information Services, a part of GTE Corporation, based in Stamford, Conn.