Océ Future Authors Project receives Hermes Platinum Award
Venlo, The Netherlands, 20 May 2011 - The Océ Future Authors Project, a public/private partnership between Océ North America and the School District of Palm Beach County, has received the Platinum Award, the highest honor presented by the Hermes Creative Awards. Only 15 percent of the hundreds of entries from around the world earn this designation. The international competition recognizes creative professionals and is administered by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP). Founded in 1995, AMCP fosters and supports the efforts of marketing and communication professionals who contribute their talents to public service and charitable organizations. The organization also organizes the MarCom Awards and Ava Awards.
Entering its sixth year, the Océ Future Authors Project is designed to help students experience the process of becoming published authors. Participating middle and high school students are able to improve their writing and critical thinking skills, develop an understanding of how authors are published, and learn about today's digital print and publishing opportunities. Since the program's inception, more than 250 students have participated in free eight-day summer writing workshops. Writings from each student's work during the workshops are compiled, professionally published and digitally printed in final book form by the Boca Raton-based Océ North America Production Printing Systems division.
The writing workshops are taught by licensed language arts teachers and such headliner professional authors as Jonathan King, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, James O. Born and Frank Cerabino. Local companies and foundations, such as the Lawrence Sanders Foundation, AutoNation and Xplor International, help support the program through grants and donations.
"We are honored to be counted among so many prestigious firms with this award," said Francis McMahon, Vice President of Marketing, Océ North America Production Print Systems. "This award is a further endorsement of a program that has already inspired so many students to love writing and pursue careers as authors."
The Océ Future Authors Project bolsters Océ's strong presence in the digital book printing and publishing market by showcasing end-to-end digital book solutions. Each year, Océ prints the compiled student works into a finished book at the Graph Expo in Chicago. This past year, the book featured not only the black and white content, but also a full colour cover and colour inserts printed on a colour cutsheet production printer. Students were delighted to see their finished works printed and bound in final book form and officially registered with the Library of Congress.
For more information on how to donate to the program, contact the Executive Director, Mary Kay Murray, at murraymk@palmbeach.k12.fl.us.
For more information about the Océ Future Authors Project, visit www.oceusa.com/futureauthors
About Océ
Océ is one of the leading providers of document management and printing for professionals. The Océ offering includes office printing and copying systems, high speed digital production printers and wide format printing systems for both technical documentation and colour display graphics. Océ is also a foremost supplier of document management outsourcing. Many of the Fortune Global 500 companies and leading commercial printers are Océ customers. The company was founded in 1877. With headquarters in Venlo, The Netherlands, Océ is active in over 100 countries and employs some 20,000 people worldwide. Total revenues in financial 2010 amounted to approximately €2.7 billion. Océ is listed on Euronext in Amsterdam. For more information visit www.oce.com.
Océ and Canon: Stronger together
In 2010 Océ joined the Canon Group of companies with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, to create the global leader in the printing industry. Canon develops, manufactures and markets a growing line-up of copying machines, printers, cameras, optical and other products that meet a diverse range of customer needs. The Canon Group comprises over 197,000 employees worldwide. Global net sales in 2010 were more than USD 45 billion. For more information visit www.canon.com