KIDS FIRST! News

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The National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) has announced a call for entries for the 10th Annual NAPPA Parenting Resources competition, now through Jan. 15, 2008. NAPPA is a juried competition that helps parents make the best buying choices for their families.

Winning a NAPPA Award provides exposure for parenting DVDs in front of 3 million parents, expectant mothers and families with children. DVDs eligible for entry span such topics as:

• child development
• pregnancy
• child-raising
• education
• nutrition
• fitness and
• safety, to name just a few

“NAPPA is an awards program that I always strongly urge my clients to enter. The potential of winning and the resulting exposure through the family of regional parenting magazines is so strong that I view it as a major opportunity,” said Lisa Orman, president and founder of KidStuff Public Relations.

NAPPA’s editorial partners—a network of 30 regional parenting publications stretching from coast to coast—will announce the NAPPA Gold winners in their June 2008 publications. Gold and Honors winners also will be featured for a full year and then archived on Parenthood.com, the nation’s leading resource for parenting information.

In addition to timely nationwide publicity, NAPPA Gold and Honor Award winners receive an awards certificate and the right to display the NAPPA seal on their product.

Both Gold and Honors winners are featured for a year and beyond on Parenthood.com. Check out the winners for 2007 there.

To learn how to enter the 2008 NAPPA Parenting Resources competition and to see a complete list of 2007 winning products visit www.NAPPA.Parenthood.com < http://www.parenthood.com/articles.html?article_id=10920> . For more information, call Barbara Smith Decker at 617-522-1515 ext. 25 or e-mail NAPPA@parenthood.com

Vuze, the online entertainment platform, has inked a content deal with PBS to provide selected PBS programming on a download-to-own basis. Vuze is now offering PBS programs including PBS Kids programs such as “Caillou” and “Teletubbies,” as well as “History Detectives,” “NOVA,” and “Scientific American Frontiers,” as well as programming from selected local PBS stations. This deal comes just as PBS enters into a similar deal with BitTorrent.

In celebration of the Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Discovery Kids presents a special encore episode of its “Wilbur” preschool series that will help even the youngest viewers appreciate this important anniversary and the miracle of modern flight, while reinforcing positive messages about optimism, persistence and resilience. Wibur’s “The Wright Stuff/The Broken Toy” episode makes an encore presentation on the Discovery Kids Channel on Thursday, December 17 at 11 AM (ET) as part of the network’s award-winning, commercial-free READY SET LEARN! block of preschool programming. WILBUR also airs at 7:30 AM (ET/PT) on TLC.

The special episode features two flight-related stories about Wilbur the calf and his barnyard friends: Dasha, an inquisitive duck; Ray, a flashy and opinionated rooster; and Libby, a sweet two-year-old lamb. In “The Wright Stuff” Wilbur wants to know what it feels like to fly. Dasha tries to teach him but nothing works. A storybook about the Wright Brothers inspires Wilbur to keep trying. In “The Broken Toy” Ray has built a beautiful model airplane which Dasha accidentally breaks. Wilbur helps Dasha overcome her fear that Ray will be mad and reads her a book that demonstrates why it is always best to tell the truth and say you’re sorry.

“Wilbur” was conceived by Jill Luedtke, Kim Anton and Tracey Hornbuckle, three moms from San Diego, who saw a need to enhance early literacy skills among young children. The moms were inspired by a visit to a Utah farm where they met an adorable little calf named “Wilbur.” They wanted to help lay a foundation for reading and felt that a barnyard with charming animal characters was the perfect setting.

In each episode, Wilbur and his barnyard buddies find themselves in a new situation or dilemma. Wilbur knows that books are full of ideas and that they can help his friends solve the problem. Wilbur then takes kids through the process of reading an actual storybook and shows that books are read from top to bottom, left to right and turn the page to continue the story.

“Wilbur” is a production of Mercury Filmworks, in association with Chilco Productions, EKA Distribution, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Discovery Kids. For Discovery Kids, Erin Wanner and Amy Sprecher, who brought “Wilbur” into the network, are executive producers.

READY SET LEARN! is an award-winning, commercial-free programming block with a curriculum that acknowledges preschoolers’ innate curiosity and is designed to foster optimism and resilience in their expanding exploration of the world. It airs on both the Discovery Kids Channel and TLC. Discovery Kids Channel lets kids of all ages (from preschoolers to tweens and teens) explore their world from their point of view. This 24-hour digital cable channel provides entertaining, engaging, and high-quality real-world programming that kids enjoy and parents trust. Every day, kids can learn about science, adventure, exploration and natural history through documentaries, reality shows, scripted dramas and animated stories. Garnering multiple Emmys as well as awards for quality children’s television, Discovery Kids is committed to satisfying kids’ natural curiosity about… well… everything.

TripFLIX’s mission is to engage kids and families to embrace the adventure of family travel using DVD, podcasting, blogging, and through online interactive experiences.

CYBERCHASE^sm gets into the holiday spirit of giving on PBS KIDS GO!^sm with a heartwarming all-new episode, “When Penguins Fly,” premiering today, Wednesday, December 12, with repeats on Friday, December 21 and Wednesday, December 25 (check local listings).

Penguins can’t fly - or can they? In Cyberspace, on one special night each year, the penguins of Penguia take flight to deliver gifts to young borgs across the virtual universe. For the first time ever, the CyberSquad’s friend Fluff is participating, and invites his pals Matt, Jackie, Inez and Digit to join him in the impressive Penguin March. They head to the Ice Palace, where the gifts are made and where magic snowflakes are sprinkled on the penguins so they can fly. But Hacker, up to his usual ruinous tricks, doesn’t want a happy holiday (let alone happy little borgs) so he creates a giant ditch in front of the Ice Palace and traps all the penguins in its icy depths! The CyberSquad must get the penguins ice-shoes so they can climb out before midnight, but how many do they need? With too many to count, the answer lies in the kids’ ability to sample the penguin population to make a close estimate. Can the CyberSquad save the penguins and their favorite holiday too??

A destination for families and kids alike with Storybooksondvd.com!

Looking for the best in children’s entertainment online? Look no further than Storybooksondvd.com, the newly launched home of Scholastic Storybook Treasures™, the #1 award-winning line of kids entertainment in the DVD marketplace. Just in time for the 2007 holiday season, it’s a one-stop shop offering the acclaimed line of DVDs from Scholastic Storybook Treasures ™ – a line featuring hundreds of classic, award-winning animated adaptations from legendary production house, Weston Woods.

Aside from e-commerce, the site also offers families a destination filled with information and activities. For parents, the easily navigable, community-oriented site features resources such as author/illustrator interviews, parent product reviews, video clips, and easily searchable product categories such as “Stories for Learning” and “Classic Fairytales” among others. For kids, there’s a cornucopia of free, printable coloring sheets, featuring loveable line art starring some of kidlit’s biggest stars like “Curious George,” “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” “Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel” and “Harry the Dirty Dog.” Seeking to create a community of parents invested in giving their preschool and early elementary school children quality programming, Storyvooksondvd.com is a way to both lead your children to books and make reading and learning fun!

The new Scholastic Storybook Treasures ™ line (formerly the Scholastic Video Collection) now offers more digitally-enhanced content than ever – featuring at least an hour of stories on each DVD release, and all value-priced at $14.95SRP. Aside from an enhanced read-along function which highlights the words as they are read, new, kid-friendly features include redesigned authoring for easy navigation and eye-popping packaging. Recent releases include “Knuffle Bunny….and More Great Childhood Adventure Stories” and “Antartic Antics…And More Hilarious Animal Stories.”

Rock ‘N Learn, Inc. began in 1986 as an idea that would help children learn by putting educational material to music with a current sound-the kind of music that kids genuinely enjoy and find motivating. Now, with over 50 products, Rock ‘N Learn leads the “edutainment” industry and has sold millions of audio/book and video programs to teachers and parents throughout the United States, Canada, and other countries. Rock ‘N Learn products are available through teacher supply stores, by visiting www.rocknlearn.com or by calling 800-348-8445.

Ocean Aire Productions, Inc /Blackbeltprinciples.com produces animated children’s programming designed to teach children the principles of good character with a martial arts theme. They currently distribute on the Web and through 100’s of martial arts schools worldwide. The purpose for their product is to provide quality educational entertainment for younger children. They are striving to set an example that concerned parents would be interested in having their children imitate.

Big Idea creates and produces VeggieTales - an award winning animated series starring Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber

iAmplify.com is a media company, powered by world class technology. They create downloadable audio and video programs to enrich your life. They provide direct access to leading celebrities, experts and media companies and their partnerships range from firms such as HarperCollins Publishers and Random House Audio to personalities such as Marianne Williamson, Marilu Henner, Phil Hellmuth and Kathy Smith. Their offices are in New York and Los Angeles.