We would like to congratulate Jonathon Birch, William Grim, and John Tippabuttini for their outstanding finish in the 2004 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. The team, led by Dr. Stephen Blythe, placed 5th out of 109 competing teams from five states in the Mid-Central US region. The team had the best score of any team at the local site. In recent years, SIUE teams have done well in the regional competition but have not placed better then 8th until this year.