FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOCAL CONTACT: NATIONAL CONTACTS:

Marilynn Shackelford Mary Ellen Keating Carolyn J. Brown

Community Relations Manager Corporate Communications Corporate Communications

950 Inspiration Drive Barnes & Noble, Inc. Barnes & Noble, Inc.

(910) 509-1464 (direct) (212) 633-3323 (212) 633-4062

BARNES & NOBLE ANNOUNCES LOCAL WINNER OF

“MY FAVORITE TEACHER CONTEST”

New York, NY – March 31, 2011 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced that Ms. Sheri Dodson from Burgaw Middle School in Pender County, NC has been named the local winner of the “Barnes & Noble My Favorite Teacher Contest.” Dodson was chosen from fifty-one entries at the Barnes & Noble at Mayfaire Town Center, 850 Inspiration Drive, Wilmington, NC. Burgaw Middle School student Brooklyn Ballard submitted the winning poem named “Thank You for Believing in Me”.

Students were invited to nominate their teacher by writing essays, poems or thank you letters that share how their teacher has influenced their life and why they appreciate and admire their teacher. Entries were judged on the compelling nature of the teacher’s qualities, the sincerity of the student’s appreciation and the quality of expression and writing.

Ms. Dodson will be recognized at a April 15 at 6:30pm event at the Wilmington Barnes & Noble where they will receive a special award acknowledging their achievement, a set of ten Sterling Children’s Classics books for their personal or classroom library, and additional recognition and praise from the community. Brooklyn Ballard, who wrote the winning essay or poem, will receive a certificate of recognition and will be honored at the Wilmington store during a ceremony for the winning teacher.

Ms. Dodson will now be entered into the regional competition where six winners will be chosen. Each regional winner will receive a NOOKcolor™ eBook Reader and a $500 Barnes & Noble Gift Card. From the pool of six regional winners, Barnes & Noble will name one teacher the “Barnes & Noble National Teacher of the Year”. The winning teacher will receive $5,000 and the title of “My Favorite Teacher.” The winner will be recognized at a special community celebration at a local Barnes & Noble store. The winning teacher’s school will receive $5,000 and a free author visit from Laurie Halse Anderson, a New York Times bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages. The winner will also receive five copies of the winning essay published in hardcover by Tikatok.com, the site where students create and publish their own books, and a $250 Tikatok Gift Card that will allow the teacher to publish select stories written by students in their class.

The Barnes & Noble My Favorite Teacher program provides students with the opportunity to tell their communities how much they appreciate their teachers. Teachers from Kindergarten through Grade 12 were eligible for nomination. Awards include cash prizes for the teachers and schools, NOOK™ eBook Readers and more.

Only students enrolled in Kindergarten through Grade 12 and teachers employed in elementary, middle or high schools in the United States are eligible to win. More details on the contest rules can be found at www.bn.com/myfavoriteteacher.

ABOUT BARNES & NOBLE, INC.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 717 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 637 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is the nation's top bookseller brand for the seventh year in a row, as determined by a combination of the brand's performance on familiarity, quality, and purchase intent; the top bookseller in quality for the second year in a row and the number two retailer in trust, according to the EquiTrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive®. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its eBookstore (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK™ eReading product offering, customers can buy and read eBooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK eBook Readers, devices from partner companies, and hundreds of the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

NOOK™, NOOKcolor™, NOOKbooks™, NOOKnewsstand™, NOOKbooks en español™, VividView™, NOOKfriends™, AliveTouch™, LendMe™, ArticleView™, Daily Shelf™, NOOKfriends™, NOOK kids™, NOOKstudy™, NOOKdeveloper™, ReadAloud™, NOOKbook Personal Shopping™, Read In Store™, More In Store™, Free Friday™, PubIt! ™, Lifetime Library™, Read What You Love. Anywhere You Like™ and Touch the Future of Reading™ are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Other trademarks referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners.

Follow Barnes & Noble on Twitter (www.bn.com/twitter), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/BNStudio).

###