ALLEN, COSBY BOOK IS FINALIST FOR E-BOOK AWARD

An e-book written by entertainer Bill Cosby and Dwight W. Allen, eminent professor of educational reform at Old Dominion University, has been named a finalist for an award to be given during the prestigious Frankfurt International Book Fair.

The book, "American Schools: The $100 Billion Challenge," was published by Ipublish.com, an electronic publishing division launched by Time Warner Trade Publishing. The book presented a challenge to the new captains of industry: produce $100 billion to help reform, revamp and reinvent our schools. The grand prize in the e-book category is $50,000.

Cosby was a student of Allen's at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Allen has been invited to attend the Oct. 10 award ceremony at the Old Frankfurt Opera House in Germany.

The International eBook Award Foundation (IeBAF), sponsor of the Frankfurt eBook Award, recently announced the international judging panel in the emerging eBook industry, which is composed of publishing industry luminaries.

"Our international panel of judges have an extraordinary and distinguished set of credentials, and also have wide and varied backgrounds," said Peter Mollman, judging director for the IeBAF foundation and a former publishing and software executive with World Book Encyclopedia and Random House. "We are all delighted to take part in honoring authors, publishers and technical innovators for creating excellence in this new medium."

Sponsored by IeBAF, a total of six awards will be presented in several categories during the ceremony.