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Shortlist for YCE Digital Publishing Award 2014

The British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur (YCE) programme celebrates entrepreneurial skills and drive within the creative industries and has been running since 2004.  The Digital Publishing Award showcases people pushing the boundaries of digital publishing — stimulating innovation and economic growth. The Literary Platform has collaborated with the British Council to produce the programme for the Digital Publishing Young Creative Entrepreneurs, 2014 who will be coming to London Book Fair 2014.

From April 5-12, the seven shortlisted entrepreneurs will meet in London to begin bridging their connections to the UK and fellow participants at a number of events designed to educate and inspire. Highlights of the programme include attending the Digital Minds Conference which includes speakers: author Anthony Horowitz, Bill Thompson from BBC Archives, and Baroness Martha Lane Fox.

The shortlisted entrepreneurs will present at the London Book Fair and go on a trend safari around London where they will meet the team behind Pottermore, the online experience built around the Harry Potter books, Made in Me, a digital media company that produces and publishes award-winning apps and interactive content for children, Vice and Dazed Magazine amongst others, and the winner will present their vision of the future at a special debate on Publishing 2024 to be held at The Hospital Club on Thursday 10 April.

The following seven entrepreneurs have been shortlisted for the ‘Digital Publishing Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ at the International Book Industry Excellence Awards:

Dai Qin | China

In 2012 Dai Qin and her team started the digital publishing/reading service, Douban Read. The platform encourages non-professional writers to publish their non-fiction work. The Douban Read app has been downloaded by more than four million people across the world with 400,000 people actively using it each month. Qin graduated from Tsinghua University in 2007 and joined Beijing-based social network Douban as product designer. Today Dai Qin is the Senior Director of Douban Read.

www.read.douban.com

Ricardo Almeida | Brazil

Ricardo Almeida is President at Clube de Autores, Brazil’s first and largest self publishing company. With no previous experience in publishing, Almeida launched Clube de Autores in 2009, sensing an opportunity to develop an open platform so that other writers could publish, sell and earn money through their own books. Today, Clube de Autores is responsible for 10% of all books published in Brazil per year.

www.clubedeautores.com.br

Uno DeWaal | South Africa

Uno is the founder and owner of Between 10and5, South Africa’s largest online creative showcase. While not a traditional creative himself (he says he can’t draw to save his life!), he is passionate about the problem solving and solution process behind creative thinking. His plans for 10and5 stretch beyond just a publishing business and aims to grow into a single point of reference for all creative output in South Africa.

www.10and5.com

Irina Sheveleva | Russia

Irina is the Product and Content Lead of Bookmate, the largest distributor of Russian e-books, with more than 300 Russian publishers on board.

www.bookmate.com

Iman Ben Chaibah | United Arab Emirates
Iman Ben Chaibah is Owner and Editor in Chief, SailEMagazine.com, the first and only independent Emirati online monthly magazine in English content created by UAE Nationals.

www.SailEMagazine.com

Johanna Pinzon Rodriguez | Columbia

Johanna is the Founder and CEO of Poliedro, which started in 2012 in Bogotá. The company has two branches: the Poliedro Foundation, working on design and content development projects for the arts with a focus on innovation and tech culture; and Poliedro Digital SAS, an agency offering creative digital solutions for brands, including e-books.

Facebook/P O L I E D R O

Paula Corroto | Spain

Paula is the co-founder of Encubierta.com, which burst onto the scene in June 2012 as the first online magazine dedicated entirely to digital books, made especially for the people that read them.

www.encubierta.com

Each of the shortlisted publishing entrepreneurs will be presenting to a panel of judges from 11.30am-13.30pm on Tuesday 8 April at an open judging session at the London Book Fair. The winner will be presented with their award at the International Book Industry Excellence Awards later that evening.

The Judging Panel includes Octavio Kulesz, Director of Teseo, one of the first digital publishing houses in Argentina and Latin America, Anna Rafferty, Chair, Culture 24, a Brighton-based, non-profit, digital cultural publishing organization and previously MD of Penguin Books Digital and Julia Kingsford, consultant for digital reading platform, Valobox. The panel is chaired by Rohan Gunatillake, trustee of the British Council and creator of buddhify, the mobile mindfulness app for modern life.

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