Press Release: Miscellaneous Announcements
David Beckham Academy In New Book Deal With Egmont UK
Posted at 10:17AM Monday 29 Sep 2008
London, 29th September, 2008 – Egmont UK are pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new series of fiction and activity books for young readers based on The David Beckham Academy.Egmont UK will be the official publisher of these new David Beckham Academy titles and the publishing programme will kick off in June 2009 with a series of fiction chapter books followed by a range of activity books in July 2009. Maya Maraj from Beckham Brand Ltd said, "The David Beckham Academy is more than just David's dream of giving children the chance to experience great football coaching, it exists to encourage all aspects of their learning and development. David is particularly pleased that The Academy has inspired a series of books that will bring children to reading through football." The books are aimed at boys and girls aged 7+ who enjoy football. The fiction books will focus on different groups of children attending The Academy, combining the excitement of football and The Academy experience. The activity books will include fun ideas for training, including pull-out tactics boards and puzzle and stats sections. The arrangement between The David Beckham Academy and Egmont UK marks another high-profile deal for the No. 1 character-book publisher in the UK, which already has a strong background in series fiction. Sam Sweeney from Egmont said, "We instantly recognised the opportunity to reach young readers in a fun and accessible way through The David Beckham Academy. Our range of books will really capture the passion that children of this age feel about football and will have broad appeal. The David Beckham Academy values and setting make it the perfect match with our fiction and activity lines." The books are inspired by the training, coaching and development skills taught by The David Beckham Academy, and are not written by David himself. ENDS Notes for Editors: For more information please contact At Egmont: Alistair Spalding on 0207 605 6642 or aspalding@euk.egmont.com At Beckham Brand Ltd: Simon Oliveira on 0207 801 1919 or simon.oliveira@19.co.uk About Egmont UK Information about Egmont UK Ltd Egmont UK Ltd. is the No.1 publisher of children's character books in the UK and it is part of the Egmont Group, which operates companies in more than 20 countries across Europe and Asia. •No. 1 Character Publisher: 47.5% volume share, 41.3% volume share (BML 2003-2006) •No. 2 Magazine Publisher with 21% Market Share (Seymour and average RSV) through WHS News •No. 3 Publisher Share within Children's books: 8% volume share, 6.8% value share (BML 2006) •Within Activity books we are No. 1 publisher by value, and number 3 by volume (BML 2006) •Annuals: Egmont No 2 with 24% market share (BML 2007) Egmont UK sells approximately 22 million children's books and more than 11 million children's magazines each year. Egmont aims to produce its books in a responsible manner, because it wants to be as proud of the way it makes books as it is of the books themselves. This means: •Making sure that it prints on environmentally friendly paper •Ensuring the factories it uses look after their workers •Going the extra mile to guarantee that Egmont's books are safety-tested to the highest standard About The David Beckham Academy It was David's vision to establish The David Beckham Academy to offer youngsters similar opportunities as he enjoyed as a boy: The Academy aims to provide the highest quality coaching to boys and girls of all abilities, to inspire and engage them in learning life skills through football. The Academy in London was opened in 2005. It is the largest sporting facility of its kind in Europe with a massive indoor arena housing two full sized, third generation, artificially turfed pitches, alongside a state-of-the-art education facility. The David Beckham Academy has achieved a myriad of successes since it launched particularly with its unique, free Schools Day Visit programme: Endorsed by the DCSF, over 30,000 children have benefitted from participating in the programme which is designed to engage youngsters through the sport of football; with a variety of on-pitch and in-classroom challenges that not only develops football skills but also teaches the value of team work and leading a healthy, active lifestyle. The Academy also offers football courses for youngsters during the holidays and coach education programmes for adults wanting to get more involved in coaching roles. Some testimonials from past visitors; "I had a fantastic three days last week at the David Beckham Academy. The course was great fun and I learned lots." "I would just like to pass my thanks on to everyone who made my sons visit to you last Saturday so fantastic. He loved every minute of his day. You made us feel very welcome and as parents we felt totally comfortable leaving him with you for the day." "The combination of the skills and the interaction with other children of all ages and ethnic backgrounds that he embraced at the Academy will always be an influence in his life for the good." "Thank you for a fantastic day out, it was brilliant. I didn't really like football then but now I sometimes play football on the playground and I love it!"
www.egmont.co.uk
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