Two publications of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) have won awards at this year’s Asian Publishing Awards announced on 15 August in Singapore.

The Internet and Governance in Asia: A Critical Reader, edited by Indrajit Banerjee, won the award for the “Best book published about the media industry in Asia”. Media Pluralism in Asia: The Role and Impact of Alternative Media, edited by Kalinga Seneviratne, received an Excellence Award in the same category.

Commenting on Dr. Banerjee’s winning entry, the head of the judging panel, Mr. R Ramachandran, Executive Director of the National Book Development Council of Singapore said that in selecting the winner, the board of judges recognised the book for having a clear traditional and new media perspective, and for being well researched, relevant and contextually appropriate for Asia.

The Asian Publishing Awards is Asia’s premier Awards programme that recognises best publishing practices in Asia. It incorporates the Asian Magazine Management Awards, Asian Book Publishing Awards, and Asian Corporate Communications Awards. The Awards attracted 203 entries from 79 companies representing 22 countries.

The winners were announced at the Gala Dinner of the Asian Publishing Convention (APC) 2008. Mr. Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman of MediaCorp Pte Ltd gave the awards during the dinner celebrations, the culmination of the Convention attended by 249 delegates from 19 countries.

APC 2008 was organized by OIC Events. Conference partners were the Magazine Publishers Association of Singapore (MPAS), National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDC), AMIC and the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA). It was supported by the Media Development Authority (MDA), Singapore Media Fusion and Singapore Tourism Board.

Both books were jointly published by AMIC and the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information as part of the AMIC Asian Communication Series. In a discipline dominated by Western titles and authors, this series aims to both give a voice to the Asian experts in this field, and to provide resources for students and scholars on the neglected Asian contexts in media and communications.

For more details on AMIC books visit www.amic.org.sg

For information on APC and the Asian Publishing Awards go to www.oiceventsasia.com