Below is a copy of the press release I sent out to the media. 

Our community paper posted a story on the front page about our youngsters.  http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200803260100/COMPUB0301/803260312

On a personal note: My oldest son Daniel played for the Mililani High School team and came home with the team state title and my youngest son Jacob tied for the 1st grade state title.

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PRESS RELEASE:

New Scholastic State Chess Champions Crowned.

Hawaii's best and brightest converged on Windward Community College.  Friday and Saturday March 14th & 15th saw a larger than normal amount of higher level thinking happening in the Hale Akoakoa Building. No, it was not college students taking finals, it was about 160 of the top scholastic chess players in the state testing their mettle against each other.

The field was made up of youngsters as young as kindergarten and as old as 12^th grade.  Several state titles were on the line and the competition was fierce.

The team results ended with Mililani Schools the big winners.  They took titles in three categories:  Mililani High School for the first time in school history won the High School State Title (K-12 Division).  Mililani Middle for the 2^nd straight year took the K-8 Division.  In the K-6 Division Mililani Ike and Kamehameha Schools finished as Co-Champions.  On computer determined tie breaks Kamehameha won the honor of keeping the perpetual trophy until next year.  The K-6 Division title was won by The Children's House ending the Kamehameha dynasty of the last three years.

In individual competition, Robert Lau and Ryan Jose`Palomares both from Mililani High School finished the day undefeated and will reign as 2008 High School Co-champions.  Robert & Ryan will have a playoff match in the next couple of weeks to determine who will represent Hawaii at the Denker Tournament of High School State Champions, August 2-5, 2008 in Dallas, Texas.  The Denker winner will be awarded a four year scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas, along several other prizes.

The results for the other age groups and the grade level champions can be viewed on the Hawaii Chess Federation website http://www.hawaiichess.org/ under tournament results.  There is also a Champions page for historical information.

On April 12, 2008 the State Girl's Championships will be held to determine our representative to the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls, to be held July 27 - August 1 at Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech University agrees to award a four-year academic scholarship to the highest finishing player who has not graduated from high school by August. 
 The Polgar event faces off the top girl from each state. Unlike the Denker Tournament of High School Champions, the participants of the Polgar DO NOT have to be High School students. 

The tournament organizer for the 2008 State Championships was former legislator and owner of Alakai Engineering; Guy P. Ontai our current State Scholastic Director for the Hawaii Chess Federation.  Guy was assisted by Randy Prothero, an area REALTOR® with Century 21 Liberty Homes and the president of the Hawaii Chess Federation.

Results from the 2008 Hawaii State Scholastic Chess Championships:  http://www.hawaiichess.org/Tournaments.html

Local schedule and additional information at the Hawaii Chess Federation's home page, http://www.hawaiichess.org/.

The Hawaii Chess Federation is the state affiliate of the United States Chess Federation, the governing body of chess in the United States.