14th Annual Search Under Way for Texas' Top Youth Volunteers

State Honorees Receive Cash Awards, Medallions and Trip to
Washington, D.C., for National Events

Decatur and North Richland Hills Youth Were Texas' Honorees in
2008
AUSTIN, Texas--(Business Wire)--
Over the past 13 years, Prudential Spirit of Community Awards have
been given to nearly 5,500 middle and high school students across
Texas for helping the less fortunate, promoting health and safety,
protecting the environment, and serving their communities through many
other volunteer activities. This week the search begins to identify
more young Texans who have made meaningful contributions to their
communities over the past 12 months, as the prestigious awards program
kicks off its 14th year.

These awards, presented nationwide by Prudential Financial, Inc.
in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School
Principals (NASSP), honor outstanding community service by young
people in grades 5 through 12.

"We've seen a tremendous number of amazing young people since we
created this program in 1995," said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and
chief executive officer of Prudential Financial. "We're delighted to
be able to call attention to their selfless acts of volunteerism, and
to give them the recognition they so richly deserve."

Young volunteers can apply online at www.prudential.com/spirit or
at www.principals.org/prudential. Applications must be completed by
October 31, 2008, then printed out, signed and submitted to a middle
or high school principal, Girl Scout council, county 4-H agent,
American Red Cross chapter, YMCA, or affiliate of HandsOn Network.
Those without Internet access can get a paper version of the
application form by calling 877-525-8491 toll-free.

Participating schools and local organizations will select Local
Honorees in early November and present them with Certificates of
Achievement. These Local Honorees also will receive the President's
Volunteer Service Award from the President's Council on Service and
Civic Participation if they have contributed the minimum number of
volunteer hours to qualify (50 hours for age 14 and younger, 100 hours
for those older). All Local Honorees are then reviewed by a
state-level judging committee, which will name the top two candidates
from each state and the District of Columbia - one high school student
and one middle level student - as State Honorees on February 10, 2009.
These State Honorees will receive $1,000 awards, engraved silver
medallions, and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., with a
parent for four days of recognition events May 2-5, 2009. Runners-up
at the state level will receive bronze medallions or Certificates of
Excellence.

In Washington, a distinguished national selection committee will
name 10 of the 102 State Honorees as America's top youth volunteers of
the year. These National Honorees will receive additional awards of
$5,000, gold medallions, crystal trophies for their nominating schools
or organizations, and $5,000 grants from The Prudential Foundation for
nonprofit, charitable organizations of their choice.

Steven Eichthaler, 18, of Decatur and Haley Whatley, 13, of North
Richland Hills were Texas' top youth volunteers for 2008. Steven,
Texas' top high school youth volunteer, was honored for organizing 85
mini-concerts involving more than 60 young musicians at nursing homes
and community events. Haley, Texas' top middle level volunteer, was
recognized for collecting more than 15,000 new stuffed animals for
sick children at Cook Children's Medical Center in an annual Easter
campaign that she began when she was 6 years old.

"The rewards that an individual receives from serving his or her
community aren't often tangible, but they are lasting," stated Gerald
N. Tirozzi, executive director of NASSP. "We are pleased to once again
join with Prudential in recognizing several of this nation's youth
volunteers, offering the honorees both tangible and memorable tokens
of appreciation for the work that they've done."

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards represent the United
States' largest youth recognition program based solely on community
service, and have honored more than 80,000 young volunteers at local,
state and national levels since the program began in 1995. The program
is part of a broad youth-service initiative by Prudential that
includes a youth leadership training program administered by the
Points of Light Institute; a free booklet of volunteer ideas for young
people offered through the Federal Citizen Information Center; and a
Web site featuring profiles of outstanding youth volunteers, volunteer
tips and project ideas for students, an electronic newspaper on youth
volunteerism, and more (www.prudential.com/spirit). The Spirit of
Community Awards program also is conducted by Prudential subsidiaries
in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Ireland.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals - the
preeminent organization and the national voice for middle level and
high school principals, assistant principals and aspiring school
leaders - provides its members with the professional resources to
serve as visionary leaders. NASSP promotes the intellectual growth,
academic achievement, character development, leadership development,
and physical well-being of youth through its programs and student
leadership services. NASSP sponsors the National Honor Society(TM),
the National Junior Honor Society(TM), the National Elementary Honor
Society(TM), and the National Association of Student Councils(TM). For
more information on NASSP, NHS, NJHS, NEHS or NASC, visit
www.principals.org.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU), a financial services leader
with approximately $638 billion in assets under management as of June
30, 2008, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin
America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset
management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately
50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect
their wealth. The company's well-known Rock symbol is an icon of
strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test
of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and
services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related
services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate
services. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com/.

Prudential Financial
Harold Banks, 973-802-8974
or
NASSP
Shana Kemp, 703-860-7344

Copyright Business Wire 2008