A tiny publishing company which makes audio study aids was a winner at the Spoken Word Awards for its version of one of Shakespeare's best-loved plays.

SmartPass, run by sister and brother team Jools and Phil Viner, won silver awards for Henry V, read by Terence Hardiman, in the best original audio and publishing initiative categories.

The CD version of the play scooped the best original audio award while the publishing initiative award was for the MP3-CD format which has been aimed at teachers.

The firm, based in Park Road, Brighton, hires actors to give unabridged readings of major fiction like Macbeth, Pride and Prejudice or Great Expectations.

Like a recorded version of York Notes, SmartPass guides steer students through the fiction with regular summaries, language checks and historical explanations.

Over the past few months, Jools and Phil have produced five Shakespeare titles on MP3-CD format which includes the script, additional teaching materials and optional commentary.

And they have just signed a deal with American distributor Recorded Books to sell the range to up to 300,000 schools and colleges in the US.

What's more, they have licensed mainstream school dyslexia units in the UK to download the MP3 audio files on to iPods for use by their students.

Jools, 40, said: "The MP3 format has given us a double-pronged approach to marketing our product which means now we can target students through teachers.

"We have always understood that teachers are our passport to the students but the CD and tape formats are only really suited for independent revision.

"The MP3 format gives teachers much more to play with, there are teaching materials and visuals that can be projected on to white boards, for example.

"Some teachers will probably find the format useful to brush up on their own Shakespeare and feel more confident about their subject in the classroom."

Jools and Phil have been running SmartPass for the past five years. They started by supplying special needs groups like the RNIB but are now selling to the mainstream market.

Last year, Waterstone's agreed to stock CD versions of MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Great Expectations and Shakespeare The Works in 100 shops across the UK.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005