A five-member team of high school students from Swan Valley Regional Secondary School, Manitoba, Canada, beat out more than 50 other teams to win the 2011 Canon Envirothon, a week-long North American environmental education competition sponsored by Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging. The winning team was announced on Thursday, July 28th, during closing ceremonies at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.

The 54 teams representing 45 U.S. states, eight Canadian provinces and one Canadian territory tested their knowledge on various environmental issues and resource conservation, while competing for a share of over $125,000 in scholarships and Canon products.

“Canon would like to congratulate not only the winning team, but all the students who participated in this year’s competition,” said Bunji Yano, senior director and general manager, Corporate Communications, Canon U.S.A. “We are so proud of all of the students’ efforts and commitment to helping preserve our environment.”

The first-place Swan Valley Regional Secondary School team received a total of $25,000 in Canon scholarships. West Hill Secondary School, Ontario, ($20,000), and Spartanburg High School, South Carolina, ($15,000), placed second and third, respectively. The fourth-place team, Oromocto High School, New Brunswick, Canada, received $10,000 and the fifth-place team, Housatonic Valley Agriscience, Connecticut, received $7,500. Teams that placed first through tenth received Canon products for their advisors and sponsoring agencies/organizations to use in science education. The list of schools/organizations finishing in the top 10 appears at the end of this announcement.

Each team is made up of five students who previously won their state or provincial competition and came together to compete in categories including aquatics, ecology, forestry, soil and land use, and wildlife. Each year an additional topic is included that is based upon a current environmental issue. For 2011, the topic was salt and freshwater estuaries.

Since 1997, Canon U.S.A. has been the title sponsor of this annual competition. The Canon Envirothon is the culmination of a series of competitions that began during the past school year and involved more than 500,000 high school students throughout North America. In written tests and oral presentations, starting at the local level, winning teams from schools and organizations competed for the distinction of representing their state, province or territory at the Canon Envirothon.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012, the competition will be held at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

In addition to the Canon Envirothon, Canon U.S.A. supports a wide range of environmental, education and youth programs including, the PBS “Nature” Series; Yellowstone Park Foundation; and many additional local programs. For more information, visit www.usa.canon.com/environment.

Canon Envirothon Media Center: www.envirothon.org Visit the online media center for information about the competition, daily updates and photos of the winning teams.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a top patent holder of technology, ranked fourth overall in the U.S. in 2010†, with global revenues of more than US $45 billion and is listed as number five in the computer industry on Fortune Magazine's World’s Most Admired Companies 2011 list. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. At Canon, we care because caring is essential to living together in harmony. Founded upon a corporate philosophy of Kyosei – "all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future" – Canon U.S.A. supports a number of social, youth, educational and other programs, including environmental and recycling initiatives. Additional information about these programs can be found at www.usa.canon.com/kyosei. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.

†Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.

All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.

The top 10 teams at the 2011Canon Envirothon: