INTERACT '97 - World Exclusive:
Minister Stockdale to launch Beam's acclaimed Educational Titles

Smarty Pants Publishing, a division of Beam International, is proud to announce that Alan Stockdale, Minister for Multimedia, will launch its critically acclaimed Languages For Kids series of educational multimedia titles at Interact '97. Languages For Kids is an award winning series of Win/Mac CD-ROM titles for primary age children, designed to make learning a second language easy and FUN. Featuring hilarious animations, lots of games, sing-alongs and fun activities, kids are enthralled and challenged for hours. They're also learning from some of Australia's leading educators… but don't tell the kids that!! "A lot of effort went into sourcing outstanding educational content, while making sure the programs would be something the kids would want to play again and again" commented Smarty Pants' General Manager, Rebecca Chapman. "I feel pretty confident in saying we've achieved that, which I personally am very proud of". One of the biggest educational multimedia projects undertaken in Australia, the $2 million, 11 title series was developed with financial assistance from Australian Multimedia Enterprise and completed in under 12 months. The first completed title, Michio Teaches Japanese won the 1996 ATOM Multimedia Award for Best Primary Resource. It was also a finalist in the 1997 International Digital Media Awards in Canada. Mike Teaches English was a recent World Medal Winner at the prestigious New York Festivals Awards. The whole series is finalist in three categories at the 1997 ATOM International Multimedia Awards - Best Primary Resource, Best Educational Resource, Best use of Sound.

Leading educational publisher, Scholastic Australia, have signed up to distribute the series - the relationship a direct result of last year's Interact '96. "We saw the prototype of Michio Teaches Japanese demonstrated at Interact, and it's snowballed from there" said Scholastic New Media's Sales & Marketing Manager, Wayne Cooper. In what must be one of the biggest success stories from Interact '96, Smarty Pants & Scholastic have signed a multi-million dollar distribution deal for the Languages For Kids series and are discussing further co-development plans. "It's very exciting indeed" continued Cooper. "With Smarty Pants' obvious creative and technical expertise and our intimate knowledge of the educational market, this partnership has incredible potential for success". "It's only fitting we return to Interact a year later and launch the series." said Rebecca Chapman. The Languages For Kids series will be available for demonstration at Multimedia Victoria's Learning With Multimedia stand for the duration of Interact - October 30th to November 2nd. Staff from the development team will be available on site for questions and interviews. The Languages For Kids series is available from Scholastic New Media ph: 02/ 4328 3555. The titles are: Mike Teaches English, Claudine Teaches French, Pip Teaches German, Fiore Teaches Italian, Pepa Teaches Spanish, Michio Teaches Japanese, Insu Teaches Korean, Budi Teaches Indonesian, Lin Lin Teaches Mandarin, Rivka Teaches Hebrew.

Scholastic Australia, a market leader in educational software, has operated in Australia since 1969. Scholastic Australia Pty, Ltd. Is a subsidiary of Scholastic International, Inc. The world's leading distributor and republisher of educational books, materials and software dedicated to interactive learning. Scholastic have offices in Australia, UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico and France. More information about Scholastic and its products can be found on the internet at http://www.scholastic.com.au
Beam International Limited is the holding company for the Beam Group. It is Australia's only multimedia development company traded on the Australian Stock Exchange (and trades under the symbol BEM). More information about Beam International Ltd, Melbourne House and Beam Software can be found on the Internet at http://www.beam.com.au.
For interviews, review copies or further information, contact Kirsten Beamish at Beam Software on
Tel: +61 (03) 9866 8300 ext: 202,
Fax: +61 (03) 9866 8674
or by e-mail to kirstenb@beam.com.au
For further information about Interact '97 check out: http://www.interact-events.com.au
Press release:- Monday October 27, 1997