Codie Award Category Clarified by the Software Information Industry Association

Hello Fred,

I’m contacting you on behalf of the Software Industry & Information Association (SIIA) regarding the recent Codie Awards, recognizing higher education’s finest products and services. We hope you have found these yearly awards to be a good source of information about the companies you cover regularly in your editorial.

It’s come to our attention that there has been some confusion with a recent announcement issued from one of the Codie entrants and I wanted to personally contact you to ensure you had the correct information.

One of the entrants, Blackboard, accidentally issued an announcement on April 16 stating that its software was recognized as the “Best Postsecondary Educational Solution,” the best platform solution for delivery of e-Education to the higher education market. However, this is a non-existent category and we understand the announcement has caused confusion.

The category Blackboard’s 5.5 e-learning curriculum software was recognized for is the “Best Postsecondary Instructional Solution” recognizing the best school-based education technology solution for curriculum targeted toward students in grades 7-16. This category recognizes only the curriculum content of instructional software, not delivery or infrastructure. There are specific categories in the Education segment that did recognize portal and platform solutions, but the Instructional Solution was not one of them. For a complete listing of this year’s categories and finalists visit www.siia.net/codies/2002/winners.htm for Codie recipients.

I hope this clears up any confusion. Please feel free to contact me if I can provide you with further information.

Best Regards,

Rachel Haynes

Manager, Public Relations

Software & Information Industry Association 1090 Vermont Avenue, NW, Sixth Floor

Washington, DC 20005

rhaynes@siia.net

+1 202-289-7442 x1365