2002 Bologna New Media Prize Winners Announced

Posted on March 28, 2002

The Bologna Children's Book Fair announced the winners of the 2002 Bologna New Media Prize, a juried award honoring children's "new media" products. This year saw a large batch of entries -- 987 products entered from 13 countries. Considered for the first time were nearly 100 additional ebooks, in a collaborative effort with the International eBook Award Foundation, which created and sponsored the Children's eBook Award.

Recipients will be formally recognized on April 10, 2002 during the opening ceremony of the Bologna Children's Book Fair, a trade fair dedicated to publishers of products for children.

This year's winners, listed alphabetically with comments from the jurors, are:

Bioscopia (Germany)
Heureka-Klett Softwarevelag GmbH
Designed for older children, this Myst-like exploration game embeds hundreds of biology facts in an abandoned research station called Bioscopia. The goal is to find a lost biologist somewhere in a labyrinth of dilapidated buildings. The solution can only be found by solving puzzles that deal with cell biology, genetics, botany and zoology. The tone of the game is marked by amazing graphics with clever use of lighting. This is a game that will involve the whole family or classroom.

Findus bei den Mucklas (Sweden) Gammafon Multimedia.
This impressive software succeeds in bringing the characters from a series of books by author Sven Nordqvist into the interactive medium. Fourteen imaginative games challenge a child's logical thinking abilities, and include several difficulty levels for children aged 4- to 9-years. The jurors were especially impressed by the puzzles that enable a child to build clever inventions in order to trap a mouse or fire a cannon. Also striking are the vivid watercolor illustrations that make the entire experience warm and inviting for the child.

My First Internet Manual (Italy) [Children's eBook Award]
Edizioni Piemme
This children's eBook winner combines a good story with interactive features that enhance the mission of the book: to help children better understand the Internet. Jurors noted that the interactive features were successful in enhancing the topic by presenting a variety of internal and external links along with a self-correcting quiz.

Zoo Tycoon (USA)
Microsoft Corporation
The well-crafted simulation lets an older child design his or her own zoo from the ground up. To have a thriving zoo, a child learns firsthand how to build the correct habitat for as many as 40 different animals, including the Giant Panda and the White Siberian Tiger. Players can make their zoos bigger and better with time, adding fences, flowers, benches, shelters and rocks, all to increase the number of visitors and overall health of the zoo. Keeping the animals happy takes research and work, which as in real life, can be a very challenging task.

Citations for Excellence:
The following five products made the list of finalists and were awarded citations of excellence:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Windows
Publisher: Electronic Arts (USA)

Ripple Effects: Character Education True to Your Core (USA)
Publisher: Ripple Effects (USA)

LittleFoxKids.com (Korea)

The Bible and the Life of Jesus (Italy)
Children's eBook Award Citation
Publisher: Dami International

Les Histoires Epouvantables de Maitre Frisson (France)
Children's eBook Award Citation
Publisher: Editions 00h00

The Bologna New Media Prize is coordinated by Children's Software & New Media Revue, a United States based periodical that provides comprehensive, independent coverage of children's interactive media. The IeBAF is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation, Gemstar eBook Group, Adobe Systems, Inc., OverDrive, and other organizations, with support from the Open eBook Forum, Reciprocal and Thomson RCA.



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