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The International eBook Award Foundation Judges Are Selected
To Promote Excellence in the Emerging eBook Market, IeBAF Sponsors one of Publishing's Largest Prizes.
The International eBook Award Foundation (IeBAF), sponsor of the Frankfurt eBook Award, has proudly announced the names of a stellar panel of judges who will select recipients of the first award designed to recognize achievements in the emerging eBook industry. They include Walter Anderson, Daniel J. Boorstin, Stewart Brand, Maria B. Campbell, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., James Gleick, Cheryl Hurley, Roger G. Kennedy, Walter Mosley, and Paul Saffo. IeBAF is in contact with a slate of noteworthy international judges, who will be named to the jury in the near future. Recipients of the award will be announced this year at the Frankfurt Book Fair, with the top award, the Author's Grand Prize of $100,000, going to the best original eBook."Our Judges collectively have an extraordinary and distinguished set of credentials, and also have wide and varied backgrounds. Their impressive range indicates the high level of interest in and enthusiasm for the emerging eBook industry. We are all delighted to take part in honoring authors, publishers, and technical innovators, for creating excellence in this new medium," said Judging Director for the IeBAF foundation Peter Mollman, a former publishing and software executive with World Book Encyclopedia and Random House.
"The eBook intersection of two industries-book publishing and computers-is on a steep learning curve. That's the great attraction for us. Everybody's learning like mad," said Stewart Brand, president of The Long Now Foundation (which is building a 10,000-year Clock and Library) and a co-founder of Global Business Network.
James Gleick said, "The book has survived through many cataclysmic changes in the technologies of delivering information. I'm betting on the book to endure and thrive. We love books for their souls--the story, the writing, the ideas. All the rest, paper and ink, leather and parchment, silicon and liquid crystals, well, that's just the skin." Gleick is author of CHAOS: Making a New Science and GENIUS: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, both Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalists in the United States.
"It's a little like coming into a room in the monastery and finding that instead of scrolls of vellum, we're all going to have to learn how to scratch ink onto paper. I don't know whether it was a bigger leap from animal skins to forest products or from forest products and ink to glass and pixels," said Roger G. Kennedy. "It's as much fun as getting your first box of paints. Who wouldn't want to play? Who would want to miss a chance to help get multi-tiered texts-also known as palimpsests-in the hands of more people?" A founder (and first chairman) of the Guthrie Theater, and of the Library of America, Kennedy has also served as Director, the U.S. National Park Service, Director, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, and as Vice President of the Ford Foundation. He is also author of BURR, HAMILTON AND JEFFERSON: A Study in Character.
"Isn't it wonderful for all of us-readers, writers and editors alike-that eBooks share the raw power of the printed word? The reader has the same opportunity in book and eBook to participate actively, to privately interact with words, to live the tension created by the sheer talent of an author," said Walter Anderson, chairman, CEO and publisher of Parade Publications.
Alberto Vitale, former Chairman and CEO of Random House, who has spent his career leading publishing enterprises and spearheading important, cutting-edge initiatives in publishing, serves as Chairman of the International eBook Award Foundation. "The world of eBooks, created out of the combination of developments in digitization, computerization, and the Internet, has opened a new and exciting way for publishers to bring their titles to readers around the globe," Vitale said. "I believe that with these Awards, we will become a catalyst in the development of the next era of publishing."
"The Foundation's mission is threefold," said Roxanna Frost, President and Executive Director of the International eBook Award Foundation. "We serve as a platform for the exchange of information, and as a resource for members of the global publishing and writing community. The Foundation will promote an increasing awareness of the vast potential and opportunity represented by eBooks. Additionally we honor writers and the publishers with Awards exemplifying excellence in eBook content and functionality."
The first Frankfurt eBook Awards will be presented on the evening of October 20, 2000, during a ceremony at the Old Frankfurt Opera House. Sponsored by IeBAF, a total of six awards will be presented in several categories:
Grand Prize:
Author's Grand Prize for the best original eBook - $US100,000
eBook Original Categories:
Best Fiction work originally published in eBook form - $US10,000
Best Non-fiction work originally published in eBook form - $US10,000
eBook Converted from Print Categories:
Best Fiction work originally published in print and converted to eBook form - $US10,000
Best Non-fiction work originally published in print and converted to eBook form - $US10,000
eBook Technical Category:
Achievement Award for the advancement and implementation of eBook technologies and features
$US10,000
Submissions for the Frankfurt eBook Awards will be accepted through August 1, 2000, on eBooks published by October 31, 2000. All entries must be issued in eBook format previously or simultaneously with a print edition to qualify for the Author's Grand Prize and the eBook Original categories, and are limited to those works published in one or more of the following formats: Glassbook; Rocket eBook; Softbook; Microsoft Reader. Titles must be nominated by publishers, who may submit up to 20 works each year (inclusive of all categories) and must publish ten or more different authors, in any format, during the current award year. Award monies will be presented to eBook authors. Further information is available in the IeBAF website. The site includes complete submission criteria, entry formats for the awards, profiles of the judges, and other information regarding the Foundation.
IeBAF is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation, Glassbook, NuvoMedia, Softbook Press, and other organizations dedicated to promoting excellence in, and advancement of, this growing venue within the publishing industry.