World Summit Award Winner deafplanet.com Recognized by the United Nations as The Best of The Best WSIS +10 Champion
marblemedia, a leading content creator, in partnership with the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf, an award-winning creator of Deaf heritage resources, are privileged to announcedeafplanet.com, the first television series and website in American Sign Language, was honoured as a United Nations’ WSIS +10 Champion by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) at the UNESCO headquarters Paris today.
As the only Canadian recipient selected and one of eight projects among 200 past World Summit Award (WSA) winners, marblemedia’s Co-CEO and Executive Producer Mark Bishop accepted the award at today’s UN WSIS +10 gala for which deafplanet.com received international applause in the category of e-Inclusion and Participation.
“We are truly honoured to receive this important international distinction on such a meaningful project, deafplanet.com,” said Mark Bishop, Co-CEO and Executive Producer, marblemedia. “We feel especially proud to be in the company of such a world class group of digital media projects which have made such a positive impact on so many people around the globe.”
Launched in 2002, deafplanet.com is available in 4 languages, two sign (American Sign Language and Langue des Signes Quebecoise), English and French. The website is a visually rich environment with extensive video including sign language video-based glossaries, a suite of dynamic educational game and activities (in the areas of science and math) and a range of interactive learning tools such as the sign language cursor (which translates any written text on screen into animated sign language for the user). The project has received numerous accolades over the years, spun off into an education television series of the same name, co-produced by TVO, and continues to be a great resource and a popular destination for children.
Since its inception in 2003 in the frameworks of the United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society, the World Summit Award has been committed to promoting the world’s best e-Content as well as most innovative information and communications technology applications.
marblemedia develops, produces and distributes engaging multiplatform entertainment experiences for audiences around the world. Named Transmedia Producer of the Year (2011) by Playback, marble has won two Gemini Awards, been nominated for an Emmy® Award and was identified as a Next Generation Content Producer (2009) by The Hollywood Reporter. The company owns a 50-acre production ranch and operates a Toronto-based studio, home to 50 staff. With nearly 200 hours of programming distributed in more than 200 territories, notable projects include the award-winning hit preschool series This is Daniel Cook and This is Emily Yeung; the award-winning series Taste Buds;Skatoony, North America’s first animated/live-action quiz show; the animated comedy Dating Guy; the teen competition series The Adrenaline Project; the physical game show Splatalot; What’s in a Name, a discovery of the history behind popular household names; and the first multiplatform series in American Sign Language, deafplanet.com. The company was co-founded by Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg in 2001. Experience marblemedia at www.marblemedia.com.
The Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf (CCSD) founded in 1973 is the only national non-profit organization representing the cultural interests of Deaf Canadians. CCSD promotes better understanding between Deaf and hearing adults and children and promotes literacy for Deaf children through its Deaf heritage award-winning resources and programs. CCSD is the Our Choice Award winner for best children’s literature for River of Hands (2000), University of Alberta Press multiple award winner for the Canadian Dictionary of ASL (2002), Gemini award nominee (2004, 2005) and NHK Japan Prize grand finalist for deafplanet.com. CCSD is recent recipient of the W3 Gold Award (2012) for aslphabet.com the first animated signing dictionary for kids, produced in collaboration with award-winning Deaf animator Braam Jordaan and marblemedia. The DEAF CULTURE CENTRE, an award-winning project of CCSD, celebrates Deaf life, featuring a museum, art gallery, gift shop, archives, and multimedia productions. Co-Directors Joanne Cripps and Anita Small co-founded the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE and are co-creators of CCSD’S Deaf heritage resources since 1998. Visit CCSD’s virtual museum at www.deafculturecentre.ca or email info@deafculturecentre.ca.
For more information, please contact:
Molly Ray | Manager of Communications, marblemedia | 416.646.2711 ext. 232 |molly@marblemedia.com