WIPO’s Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the 2026 ABC International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing. This year’s edition will take place at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, reflecting ABC’s commitment to inspiring children’s book publishers to make their titles accessible to all young readers.
This prestigious global award recognizes a publisher and a project initiative that have shown outstanding leadership and innovation in advancing the accessibility of e-books and other digital publications for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled.
The ABC International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing will be presented during the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on Monday, April 13, 2026. ABC particularly encourages nominations from children’s book publishers for the 2026 award iteration, as well as from companies and organizations based in developing and least-developed countries.
One representative each from the winners in the publisher and initiative categories respectively will be invited to attend the ceremony in Bologna, with travel costs covered by the World Intellectual Property Organization. The ceremony offers an opportunity to celebrate the winners’ achievements among peers and to connect with publishers, accessibility experts, and other leaders shaping the future of inclusive reading. Winners will also benefit from international visibility through WIPO’s and ABC’s communication channels, helping to share their work and inspire others across the global publishing community.
Selection Criteria
The selection panel, comprising experts in the field of accessibility, will evaluate nominations based on the following criteria:
- a commitment to making content available in accessible formats;
- accessibility standards built into production systems to make books accessible on, or close to, publication date;
- collaboration with partners in the supply chain to ensure that accessibility is maintained in delivering the product to the print disabled end-user;
- innovative practices established to advance the accessibility of e-books and digital publications;
- widespread positive impact on persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled; and
- an overall commitment to ABC’s mission of making content globally available in accessible formats.
Eligibility
As the award aims to recognize collective efforts and sustainable practices of companies, organizations and initiatives, individuals are not eligible for nomination. Previous ABC award nominees that made the short-list are strongly encouraged to reapply. Past ABC Award winners will not be considered again for the same work. Previous winners must demonstrate new initiatives or results that meet the current ABC International Excellence Award criteria to be considered.
About ABC
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is a public-private partnership led by WIPO that, together with its many partners around the world, has had real impact over the past decade. Since its inception, the ABC Global Book Service catalogue has quadrupled in size to over one million titles thanks to the inclusion of the collections of participating authorized entities. ABC delivered a total of 225,000 accessible digital files from the ABC catalogue to persons with print disabilities through its authorized entities in 2024. In addition, through ABC’s training and technical assistance partners, more than 20,000 textbooks have been made accessible in over 40 low-income countries, improving access to education for thousands of young people. ABC was established in June 2014 to implement the goals of the Marrakesh Treaty.
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About Bologna Children's Book Fair
The Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) is an industry leading event that has succeeded in bringing together a unique and diverse global audience thanks to 62 years experience. The result is the world’s premium copyright exchange hub when it comes to publishing which also extends to current multimedia and licensing businesses for children’s stories, illustration, animation and related areas.
About WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information and cooperation. A specialized agency of the United Nations, WIPO assists its 193 member states in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society's evolving needs. It provides business services for obtaining IP rights in multiple countries and resolving disputes. It delivers capacity-building programs to help developing countries benefit from using IP. And it provides free access to unique knowledge banks of IP information.