Nominations are now open for the 2021 edition of the International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing, promoted by the Accessible Book Consortium (ABC), led by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in collaboration with the Publishers Association.

The International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing 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”.

Winners are chosen among nominees from all over the world. This year’s winners will be announced during the annual ceremony in October 2021, it will be held for the first time at the Frankfurt Book Fair, thanks to the new collaboration, begun in 2020, between WIPO and the Buchmesse.

As winner of the last edition, Fondazione LIA will participate to the event as a member of the selection panel, which is composed of publishers, authors, persons with visual impairments, organizations and other accessibility experts. Moreover, the selection panel will evaluate the commitment to making available contents accessible, the use of accessibility standards, collaboration with partners in the supply chain, innovative practices and extended positive effects on persons with visual impairment.

Nominations for the award in the two categories are now being collected by the Accessible Book Consortium. Any nomination should be filled and sent to accessible.books@wipo.int by June 30, 2021.