The shortlist for the 2021 ABC International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing has been posted. Promoted by the Accessible Books Consortium, it is the most prestigious prize for accessibility in the publishing field and it has reached its seventh edition this year. It rewards publishers and project initiatives, showing leadership and achieving great results in promoting the accessibility of e-books and digital publications for print impaired people.

In 2020 the award was assigned to Macmillian Learning in the publishers category and to Fondazione LIA in the initiatives category, for its “innovative approach” and its “very important role in bringing together publishers and the visually impaired community”.

This edition 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 shortlisted candidates

For the Publisher category:

• House of Anansi Press (Canada)
• Taylor & Francis Group (UK)
• University of Michigan Press (US)

For the Initiative category:

• Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind (Brazil)
• National Network for Equitable Library Services (NNELS, Canada)
• 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)

WIPO led Accessible Books Consortium will unveil the names of the winners at the awards ceremony to be held at the Frankfurter Buchmesse on Wednesday, October 20.