Singapore, 21 October 2015 – In partnership with Samsung Electronics (Samsung), the National Book Development Council of Singapore (The Book Council) is excited to announce the second iteration of the Samsung KidsTimeTM Authors’ Award (SKTAA)! Supported by Samsung and organised by the Book Council, this award will seek to give both published and unpublished authors the chance to see their works turned into mobile apps. The SKTAA is open to all authors of ASEAN nationality, and every nation could have up two Grand Prize winners and eight Second Prize winners!

2. The Grand Prize winners will receive an SGD $2,000 cash prize, and their winning work will be turned into a mobile app that will be exclusively available on the Samsung KidsTimeTM mobile platform for a period of 12 months. Second Prize winners will also see their work exclusively featured on the Samsung KidsTimeTM mobile platform for 12 months.

3. Executive Director of the National Book Development Council of Singapore Mr R

Ramachandran says, “After last year’s impressive slate of submissions and winners, we are very excited to see what amazing work we’ll receive in this second edition. Samsung has been busy creating the apps for the 2015 winners in their native languages, and the Book Council is very happy to be part of this effort to promote and provide more literary works from Asian writers to a wider regional and international audience.”

4. Nicholas Wodtke, Vice President, Media Solution Center, Southeast Asia & Oceania, Samsung Electronics said, “We are proud and honoured to be able to help support reading by transforming these physical book submissions into digital titles that will come alive on our Samsung Tablets. Our mission with Samsung KidsTimeTM is to be ‘more than play’.

Promoting literacy and learning is key to supporting this goal.”

5. The SKTAA 2015 is now open for submissions until 1 February 2016. The award is open to authors and publishers of picture books for 3-10-year-olds and in all native languages, and requires an English translation only for the purposes of assessment. The winners will be officially announced in May 2016 during the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, which they will be invited to.