Legal Niches

Competition Launched to Find New Digital Media Learning Ideas

By pete_gallagher

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Sesame Workshop have announced the launch of a national competition designed to find, and fund, digital media that will provide breakthroughs in children's education.

The Cooney Center Prizes for Innovation in Children's Learning offers prizes in the mobile learning category, where a winner will receive $50,000 towards their entry's development, and a literacy learning category, from which a winner will receive $10,000, in addition to the possibility of their project being used as part of Sesame Street's revival of the Electric Company television show.

Cooney Center Executive Director Dr. Michael H. Levine added:

Billions of dollars are spent every year by parents on the growing plethora of digital games, toys, mobile devices, and online experiences for children.  However, research demonstrates that the vast majority of these products have only tapped a minimal amount of educational value. The new prizes are intended to offer real incentives to digital media entrepreneurs who would like to do well by creating new ways to help children learn.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens and submissions are due by midnight, April 1, 2010. A jury will select up to five finalists in each category, who will then be invited to this year's E3 Expo in order to pitch their idea.

The jury includes ex-Electronic Arts CEO Bing Gordon, Activision SVP of Production (for Guitar Hero) Laird Malamed, Apple's Vice President of Education John Couch and Sesame Workshop President and CEO Gary Knell.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on January 11, 2010 (boomark / email).