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Madison Strategic Sector Premium Fund Declares Monthly Dividend

The Madison Strategic Sector Premium Fund (the "Fund") (NYSE: MSP) announced today that it declared its monthly dividend of $0.15 per share. Dividends will be paid on November 30, 2005, to shareholders of record as of November 18, 2005. The ex-dividend date will be November 16, 2005.

A percentage of this dividend and monthly dividends during the early months of the Fund's operation may be characterized as a return of capital. However, for the entire calendar year of 2005, it is anticipated that the actual composition of the Fund's distributions, based on the Fund's investment activity, will be fully taxable, primarily as short term capital gains taxable as ordinary income and secondarily as qualified dividend income. The Fund expects varied timing of recognition of gains primarily related to initial monthly distributions, during the period in which the Fund is initially implementing its covered call option strategy. The ultimate tax characterization of the Fund's distributions made in a calendar year will not be determined until after the end of that calendar year.

The Fund's objective is to achieve a high level of current income and current capital gains, with long-term capital appreciation as a secondary objective. The Fund intends to pursue its objectives by investing in a portfolio of common stocks and utilizing an option strategy, primarily by writing (selling) covered call options on a substantial portion of the individual common stocks in the portfolio in order to generate current income and gains from option writing premiums and, to a lesser extent, from dividends.

It is the Fund's intention to make information concerning the Fund's investments periodically available on the Fund's dedicated website at www.madisonfunds.com (where you can access the June 30, 2005 semiannual report). Madison Asset Management, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Madison Investment Advisors, Inc., is the Fund's Investment Advisor. Founded in 1974, the firm is independently owned and based in Madison, Wisconsin. Madison manages the Mosaic family of mutual funds and its affiliates include Madison Scottsdale, LLC, specializing in insurance company asset management and Concord Asset Management, focused on investing for high net worth families and individuals in the Chicago, Illinois area. Madison also is investment manager of another closed-end fund, the Madison/Claymore Covered Call Fund (MCN). With its subsidiaries, Madison managed assets in excess of $11.5 billion on June 30, 2005.

Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements. The Fund's actual results may differ from current expectations or projections due to numerous factors, including but limited to changes in the equity markets, changes in the portfolio's value, economic and political conditions and other risks generally discussed in the Fund's filings with the SEC. Neither the Fund nor Madison undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

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