The shortlisted candidates are:
|
Publisher category |
Initiative category |
|
House of Anansi Press (Canada) |
Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind (Brazil) |
|
Taylor & Francis Group (UK) |
National Network for Equitable Library Services (NNELS, Canada) |
|
University of Michigan Press (US) |
Sao Mai Center for the Blind (Viet Nam) |
|
|
The Interdepartmental Steering Committee for the Promotion of Born Accessible eBooks to People with Disabilities (COPIL, France) |
This is the first time that WIPO will present the ABC International Excellence Award at the Frankfurter Buchmesse (FBF). WIPO and the FBF signed an agreement for collaboration between the two organizations in 2020, including a provision on the issue of accessibility. The ABC award will be conferred during a hybrid seminar on making accessible eBooks, co-organized by WIPO, the International Publishers Association and the Federation of European Publishers.
Nominees were judged on the criteria of outstanding leadership or achievements in improving the accessibility of e-books or other digital publications for persons who are blind, have low vision, are dyslexic or have mobility impairments that impact their ability to read the printed word.
The finalists were selected by an expert jury composed of representatives of authors, publishers (including IPA past president, Hugo Setzer and current Secretary General, José Borghino), standards bodies, and organizations representing people who are visually impaired, as well as accessibility experts.
According to a 2018 World Health Organization estimate, approximately 253 million people are blind or visually impaired world-wide. More than 90% of these are resident in developing countries, where the World Blind Union (WBU) estimates that people who are blind have only a one in ten chance of going to school or getting a job. A lack of accessible books remains a very real barrier to getting an education and leading an independent, productive life. The WBU estimates that less than 10% of all published materials can be read by blind or low-vision people.
Reposted from:
https://www.accessiblebooksconsortium.org/news/en/2021/news_0008.html