QED 2012

In 2013, we nominated the StarWalk Kids Media enhanced eBook platform and its accompanying Webby Honoree website, SeymourSimon.com, for Best Transmedia property in the Publishing Innovation Awards. As we wrote in our application: Our mission is to foster a love of science and nature in children from grades K-8, employing digital technologies to create compelling opportunities for real world science and nature experiences. We utilize the enhanced eBooks available via the StarWalk Kids streaming library in conjunction with the multitude of resources available on SeymourSimon.com, particularly the Seymour Science Blog to present children with multiple opportunities to engage with nature, write and publish their writing, share their digital photographs, watch videos and upload their own, and collect their own field observations (often using digital resources) to share with others. 

Although we did not win the overall category, both StarWalkKids.com and SeymourSimon.com were awarded the prestigious QED seal. The QED Seal (which stands for Quality, Excellence, Design) is considered the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for ebooks and apps. The QED process consists of a 13-point checklist to ensure a high quality user experience. To ensure that an ebook title submitted for a QED will render well on the device a reader chooses, it is reviewed on three devices: a small, mobile-sized screen, an eInk reader-sized screen, and a tablet-sized screen. The QED is judged on the criteria established on the recommendation of the Publishing Innovation Awards Advisory Council, who are respected leaders in the digital production and design space. 

Click here to read more about the Publishing Innovation Awards.