FRANKFURT, Germany, Oct. 18, 2000 — The world’s second highest literary award will be presented to an eBook this week at the 52nd annual Frankfurt Book Fair — the world’s largest and oldest international trade fair for publishing. This year’s fair, which begins today and runs through Oct. 23, will feature thousands of books, magazines, maps, multimedia and art work and is expected to have 6,791 individual exhibitors — publishers, multimedia producers and art galleries — from 106 countries. Last year, the fair drew 282,651 visitors, including writers, publishers, booksellers, librarians, agents and journalists.
The winners of the first Frankfurt eBook Awards will be announced this Friday, Oct. 20, at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The top winner will receive $100,000 for the best work published originally in electronic form, while prizes for works in other categories will be awarded up to$10,000. The awards indicate the momentum eBooks are gaining globally as well as the growing importance of eBooks in the world of publishing. The finalists for the top prize, chosen by the International eBook Award Foundation, are books originally published in eBook format.
Microsoft has long been a supporter of this up-and-coming media format with its Microsoft Reader software application, and has worked consistently to make eBooks more mainstream. Microsoft Reader is the first product to include ClearType™ display technology, a Microsoft innovation that greatly improves font resolution on LCD screens for users of desktop or laptop PCs running the Microsoft Windows®
operating system as well as dedicated reading devices. In addition to incorporating the latest ClearType technology, Microsoft Reader strictly adheres to the traditions and benefits of fine typography. It provides a clean, uncluttered display; ample margins; full justification; proper spacing, leading and kerning; and powerful tools for bookmarking, highlighting and annotation.
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced the publication of H.E Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi’s book, “Christian Bioethics,” as an eBook in the Microsoft Reader format. The eBook will be continually updated as Cardinal Tettamanzi, who is the archbishop of Genoa, and an expert panel of physicians, theologians and legal experts address questions they receive through a Web site dedicated to the new book at http://www.bioeticacristiana.it/. Their replies will be incorporated into future editions of the text.
“It is heartening to see the Catholic Church continue to guide efforts aimed at the betterment of humanity by publishing an important work such as ‘Christian Bioethics’ in Microsoft Reader format, where it will be widely and immediately available around the world,” said Dick Brass, vice president of technology development at Microsoft.
Earlier this year, Michael Crichton’s best-selling novel, “Timeline,” and 15 books based on the
“Star Trek”
” TV series were made available for free download from Barnes & Noble.com. In August, Barnes & Noble.com and Microsoft announced the opening of the Barnes & Noble.com eBookStore for Microsoft Reader, with major publishers making best-selling titles available in Microsoft Reader format.
“eBooks are pointing the way to the future of reading and publishing,” Brass said “It’s going to be a future of more titles and lower costs; instant delivery and on-screen reading that rivals paper. We are especially pleased to be working with the Frankfurt Book Fair because it captures the truly international quality of reading, including the new electronic medium, and demonstrates that this is a worldwide phenomenon.
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