National Council for Geographic Education Bestows Prestigious Award

In October 2003, the Esri Press book Mapping Our World: GIS Lessons for Educators by Christine Voigt, Anita Palmer, and Lyn Malone received the 2003 Geography Excellence in Media (GEM) Award from the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) at its annual meeting. The award recognizes forms of media that exhibit outstanding geographic content or teaching methods. Mapping Our World stood out in a group of nominees that covered Web sites, compact discs, videos, software, television documentaries, films, slide sets, books, and articles.

Every year NCGE honors the best media productions for the past year. Those distinguished by NCGE complement the council's mission to enhance the status and quality of geography teaching and learning.

Mapping Our World provides an excellent entry point for incorporating GIS technology and thinking processes in the classroom. It was created for both new and experienced teachers in grades 5 through 12. The Mapping Our World package consists of a workbook with seven modules and 19 lessons, photocopy-ready teacher instructions, student handouts, assessments, and evaluation rubrics. Companion CDs include a complimentary one-year license for Esri's ArcView 3.x software for Windows/Macintosh, 250 MB of GIS data used in the lessons, printable versions of the lessons, multimedia GIS resources, and links to other data and materials. The license for a single package allows use throughout a school building where the materials are being taught as well as on teachers' home computers.

Software & Information Industry Association's 2004 Codie Award

In addition, Mapping Our World: GIS Lessons for Educators is a finalist for the Software & Information Industry Association's 2004 Codie Awards in the Best Educational Total Comprehensive Solution category. The book is one of 215 selected finalists out of more than 800 nominees from 600 companies.

"It's a huge honor to have Mapping Our World become a finalist for a prestigious Codie Award," says Nick Frunzi, director, Educational Services, Esri. "A nomination in the Best Educational Total Comprehensive Solution category is a sign that we are accomplishing our goal of creating an informative educational package for kids."

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade organization with 1,200 member companies from around the world working together to expand market opportunities and strengthen the software and information industry. For the past 19 years, SIIA has showcased the industry's finest products and services as well as honored corporate achievement and philanthropic efforts. The Codie Awards program is the only peer recognition program in the software and information industry. It provides companies with the chance to compete for the praise of their competitors.

The 19th Annual Codie Award winners will be announced at a reception on May 18, 2004, at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California. For more information about SIIA and the Codie Awards, visit www.siia.net.

Mapping Our World: GIS Lessons for Educators (ISBN 1-58948-022-8, 564 pages) has a list price of $79.95 and is available at better bookstores, online from Esri Press (www.esri.com/ mappingourworld) and Esri education business partners (www.compassedtech.com and www.gisetc.com), or by calling 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, please contact your local Esri distributor.