GNN, an America Online service offering Internet access, does extensiveelectronic publishing and provides entertainment and educational information on its own Web site (http://gnn.com ). Taking a page from the Publishers Clearinghouse marketing manual, GNN said users need to get a serial number and register at any participating sponsor's site to enter the sweepstakes.

"Advertisers, marketers, online companies, Web sites owners, large corporations, and all sorts of companies have been trying to figure out a way to effectively get people to a site and expose them to their advertising and products," said a GNN spokesperson. "This sweepstakes is a terrific way to test just how effective a traditional marketing campaign will work on the Internet."

The sweepstakes is currently open to anyone who can access the Web. Each participant gets a serial number from GNN and registers at each sponsor's site. The contest ends after three months, on September 16, with one winner drawn from all entries. Each visit to a site gives a participant one entry into the contest. The winner will be paid in 40 annual installments of $25,000.

More information about the sweepstakes is available on the Web at http://million.dollar.gnn.com.

GNN's vice president of programming, Lisa Gansky, called the contest the largest marketing promotion in the history of the Internet, saying "The Million Dollar Web Crawl is entertaining for people of all ages, interests, and backgrounds. It's the first promotion the Internet has ever seen on such a grand scale, and it is going to capture the attention of millions of Internet users."

(Patrick McKenna/19960619/Press Contact: Blaise Simpson, Niehaus Ryan Group, 415-827-7065, Internet e-mail blaise@nrgpr.com/MILLION960619/PHOTO)