News Archive

The short-list for the 2025 ABC International Excellence Awards in Accessible Publishing has been announced in advance of the awards ceremony to be held at the World Blindness Summit in September, 2025.  There are two categories of awards, publishers and initiatives, and the following shortlisted candidates were selected from nominations from around the globe:

Publishers

• Canada: Éditions Les 400 Coups
• Colombia: DADO Editorial Sensorial
• United Kingdom: Royal Yachting Association/RYA Publications

Initiatives

• European Union: Accelerating Publishing Accessibility through Collaboration in Europe (APACE)
• India: Mitra Jyothi
• Trinidad and Tobago: National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS)
• United Kingdom: RNIB Bookshare

A jury made up of representatives from publishers, organizations working in the field of accessibility, and organizations representing persons who are visually impaired, is charged each year with the difficult task of choosing finalists and selecting winners. Congratulations to all those shortlisted! Read More

This week Forbes released their first ever Accessibility 100, highlighting and celebrating the work of 100 organizations conducting significant work in the sector.

We’re delighted to report that several DAISY member organizations were recognized on the list:

• Benetech
• Google
• Humanware
• Microsoft

Many congratulations to the organizations and individuals concerned.

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Many congratulations to Avneesh Singh, Chief Operating Officer at The DAISY Consortium, who has been re-elected to the W3C Advisory Board, as reported in W3C’s announcement.

The W3C Advisory Board  “provides ongoing guidance on issues of strategy, management, legal matters, process, and conflict resolution” within the W3C. DAISY is delighted that the board will continue to have the benefit of Avneesh’s experience and expertise.

Avneesh commented: “I am delighted to see such wonderful support from W3C community, enabling me to continue my contributions to the crucial work that the advisory board has been doing, especially on the vision and strategy for preparing W3C for the future, furthering the W3C into a mission-oriented and community driven organization, on improving diversity and inclusion and on social values (accessibility, internationalization, privacy, security and sustainability). Thanks to everyone for your enthusiastic support. I am looking forward to interacting with all of you in the near future.”

Special thanks for the continuous support and confidence of the DAISY Community, DAISY board and DAISY staff, who are highly committed to the development and worldwide implementation of accessibility, open standards and inclusive technologies, working from the grass root level up to the governance of standards bodies.

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The Accessibility Task Force of the W3C Publishing Community Group has announced the release of the Accessibility Metadata Display Guide for Digital Publications 2.0. After more than 2 years work by this expert team, we are delighted to share this news with our readers. DAISY staff members have been integral to the development of this updated guidance which helps those who wish to render accessibility metadata directly to users.

The guide currently consists of a guidelines document and two techniques document – one for EPUB package metadata and one for ONIX records. Technique documents to cover other metadata formats are also under discussion. It presents high-level principles without going into technical issues related to the different metadata standards in the publishing industry.

The techniques documents illustrate to developers how to retrieve data to show the information outlined in the principles.

Guidance Documents

The documents can be accessed at:

• Guidelines: https://www.w3.org/publishing/a11y/metadata-display-guide/guidelines/
• EPUB Techniques: https://www.w3.org/publishing/a11y/metadata-display-guide/techniques/epub/
• ONIX Techniques: https://www.w3.org/publishing/a11y/metadata-display-guide/techniques/onix/

Please provide your valuable feedback by opening issues in the GitHub issue tracker.

Additional Resources

Previous articles and information on the new guidance include:

• Updated Guidance for Displaying Accessibility Metadata
• Anticipating Accessibility Metadata Required by the European Accessibility Act
• Accessibility Metadata, T-157 webinar
• New Accessibility Metadata Guidance Benefits All\

Our congratulations to the editors and participants of the accessibility task force for these impressive updates and refinements.

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Nominations are now open for the WIPO Accessible Books Consortium International Excellence Awards 2025. As in previous years, there are two categories for the awards, allowing both publishers and other initiatives to be celebrated for their work progressing accessibility in their respective fields.

Nominations are open until July 14th, and the winners will be announced during a ceremony in September at the World Blindness Summit in Brazil.

The ABC Awards Announcement contains all the relevant information including the nomination form and details of the process.

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Many congratulations to the winners of the Accessible Books Consortium International Excellence Awards for Accessible Publishing, announced last night at the International Publishers Association Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The awards are divided into 2 categories with an impressive set of finalists for each.

Publishing Award Winner: Gerbera Ediciones

Argentinian publisher Gerbera Ediciones was honored in the publisher category for its “dedication to inclusivity, particularly for children and young readers.” The commitment to producing books in multiple formats for all readers is noteworthy, ensuring that as many readers have access to their content as possible, via libraries and education departments also.

Congratulations also go to the other finalists in this category:

• Book Publishers Association of Alberta (Canada)
• Children’s Fun Publishing Co., Ltd. (China)

Initiative Award Winner: Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities

This Australian initiative was celebrated for its “enduring contributions to accessibility since its establishment in 1981.” In particular, the jury acknowledged the huge impact this initiative has achieved across many sectors such as education, government, and business in Australia and New Zealand.

Congratulations also go to the other finalists in this category:

• Lithuanian Audiosensory Library (Lithuania)
• UNICEF Helsinki (Finland)

Nominees were judged on the criteria of outstanding leadership or achievements in improving the accessibility of ebooks or other digital publications for persons who are print disabled.

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The DAISY Consortium just held their board meetings in São Paulo, Brazil, hosted by DAISY member Fundação Dorina Nowill para Cegos. In addition to taking care of the usual governance business, the agenda included: collaborations between specialist libraries; DAISY members supporting mainstream accessibility publishing; digital books serving the needs of readers who are deaf and hard of hearing or with intellectual disabilities; DAISY members and artificial intelligence.

Many of the DAISY representatives participated in the International Accessibility Conference that took place on November 13, discussing topics related to accessibility in the publishing industry.

Our thanks to all involved for making this a very productive and enlightening few days.

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