Celebrating Innovation in Apps and Ebook Publishing
The Digital Book Awards (formerly known as the Publishing Innovation Awards), founded in 2010, recognizes innovation, creativity and excellence in all aspects of digital book publishing. Each year, award winners and finalists in 15 categories demonstrate fresh thinking, inspired design and bold technology integration, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in this constantly evolving publishing arena.
The program encompasses all forms of digital publishing that are available to consumers as ebooks, enhanced digital books and apps, in order to showcase and reward the work of authors, developers and publishers.
Our 2013 winners and finalists, celebrated at an awards luncheon at the Digital Book World Conference, included titles from the big-six publishers, independent publishers, international producers, digital developers, platform hosts, and self-published authors— in other words, a true reflection of the current digital publishing landscape.
All entrants to the Digital Book Awards are automatically entered in our QED process. The QED is a rigorous 13-point inspection conducted by a network of experienced ebook developers to ensure that all entries meet our criteria before the judging begins.
Once the QED process has been completed and your entry is certified “QED ready,” your entry is then reviewed by one of our prestigious judges, all of whom are widely recognized within the publishing industry for their expertise in ebook content, design and production.
WHY ENTER
The Digital Book Awards are among the more coveted publishing awards in the digital publishing industry. All winners will receive
- A free ticket to the full, three-day 2014 Digital Book World Conference + Expo ($1495 value)
- Four tickets to the Digital Book Awards gala in January, 2014 in New York City
- A physical trophy marking your achievements
- Wide media coverage in both trade and mainstream press. Past winners have been mentioned in the Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, Publishers Marketplace, Shelf Awareness, Digital Book World, and Library Journal.
- Recognition on the widely popular DBW Website through both a written and video interview.
CATEGORIES
The 2014 Digital Book Awards has 15 categories to choose from. There are three main divisions, each with its own categories, plus a separate category for Transmedia projects.
Ebook Flowable
Adult fiction
Adult nonfiction
Children
Reference/Academic
Ebook Fixed Format/Enhanced
Adult fiction
Adult nonfiction
Children
Reference/Academic
Illustrated/Comics/Graphic Novels
Apps
Adult fiction
Adult nonfiction
Children
Reference/Academic
Illustrated/Comics/Graphic Novels
Transmedia (any format)
Award winners will be notified no later than December 31, 2013, and will be honored at the program’s annual awards evening gala in January, 2014 during the Digital Book World conference in New York.
DEADLINES & FEES
- Deadline: October 1, 2013
- All entries are $199 per entry
- Additional fee of $20 for Best Cover Design award entry
All entries must be submitted and postmarked no later than October 1, 2013 (11:59 pm EST). The $199 entry fee includes automatic entry in our QED process.
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Innovation – Entries will have been conceived and executed in novel ways. Innovative titles look past their print counterparts and approach their platform natively by pushing the bounds of what has been done before.
- Design – Well-designed entries display their content clearly and communicate their message effectively.
- Usability – Entries function as intuitively as possible and the features and/or layout are accessible for all readers to the extent possible.
- Content – Excellent digital content enriches, enlightens, entertains and satisfies readers; it delivers on its promise.
- Consistency – The title shows appropriate information hierarchy and font treatments throughout. In functionality and layout there are no unexpected surprises or glaring errors. Everything works, and works well.
- Excellence—Award winners will have obtained the highest QED rating.
As in diving, something moderately difficult executed well will be judged more highly than something extremely difficult done poorly. The Digital Book Awards recognizes titles that improve the experience of readers – a title’s features should be additive, not distracting.
Titles submitted for awards are evaluated across all formats and devices. For the QED judging criteria, click here.
HOW TO ENTER
The Digital Book Awards is committed to quality titles that render beautifully across devices and formats. Entries must be original digital content created by the author, developer or publisher. There are no geographic restrictions on entries.
Click on this enter link to go to our online submission form and follow the steps as indicated. You’ll need to set up an account as part of this process – this will allow you to come back to your submission, add extra entries and make modifications.
