Inspiration and Kidspiration Bring Home the Gold in the Mom's Choice Awards

Inspiration Software's Visual Learning Software Tools Named Among the Best in Family-Friendly Products, Services and Media

PORTLAND, Ore. – March 16, 2010

Inspiration® and Kidspiration® from Inspiration® Software, Inc., both took gold honors in the Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA), honoring excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. The MCA seal helps families and educators navigate a vast array of products and services and make informed decisions. The visual learning software tools were evaluated for this honor by a panel of judges including experts in education as well as children, librarians, performing artists, authors and scientists.

"Visual learning helps students of all ages think critically and creatively, and ultimately build 21st century skills," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "Top honors from the Mom’s Choice Awards for Inspiration and Kidspiration are a testament to the widespread recognition of the value of this important learning tool."

Used by millions of students and teachers around the world, Inspiration, an MCA Gold recipient for grades 6-12, is considered the gold standard of visual learning tools. When students grade 6 to adult learn with Inspiration, they build strong critical-thinking, writing and organizational skills, as well as good communication skills to effectively share their knowledge and understanding.

Inspiration 9 was launched in January 2010. With the ninth generation of its flagship software, Inspiration Software has taken the proven ways that visual learning builds critical-thinking skills and improves student achievement in new directions, making the world’s leading visual learning tool even more powerful. New capabilities in Inspiration 9 provide an essential framework for thinking and help students develop 21st century skills.

Now with the new Presentation Manager in Inspiration 9, students can create organized and compelling presentations to present and communicate their knowledge and work. In addition to Diagram and Outline view for taking notes, organizing information and structuring writing for planning papers and reports, Inspiration 9 features a new visual view, Map View. This allows students to create and think in mind maps, another proven visual learning methodology that promotes better understanding of relationships and connections among ideas and helps students retain information.

Kidspiration 3 is an MCA Gold recipient for grades K-5. Kidspiration 3 is the visual way for young learners to explore and understand words, numbers and concepts. Kidspiration supports children as they strengthen reading and writing skills, build conceptual understanding in math and develop thinking skills across the curriculum. In reading and writing, Kidspiration builds children's word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension and written expression, using visual tools that combine pictures, text and spoken words. With the visual math tools in Kidspiration, children build a strong mathematical foundation for reasoning and problem-solving by using visual representations to understand math concepts.

This year's MCA judges included Dr. Twila C. Liggett, 10-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of PBS's "Reading Rainbow"; Julie Aigner-Clark, creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, "New York Times" bestselling author; Priscilla Dunstan, creator of the Dunstan Baby Language; Patricia Rossi, host of NBC's "Manners Minute"; Dr. Letitia S. Wright, host of the Wright Place TV Show; and Catherine Witcher, M.Ed., special-needs expert and founder of Precision Education, Inc. MCA judges are bound by a strict code of ethics that ensures expert and objective analysis free from any manufacturer association. The evaluation process uses a proprietary methodology in which entries are scored on a number of elements including production, quality, design, educational value, entertainment value, originality, appeal and cost.

About Inspiration Software, Inc.

Recognized as the leader in visual thinking and learning, Inspiration Software, Inc.'s award-winning software tools, Inspiration, Kidspiration and InspireData®, are based on proven visual learning methodologies that help students think, learn and achieve. With the powerful combination of visual learning and technology, students in grades K-12 learn to clarify thoughts, organize and analyze information, integrate new knowledge and think critically. Founded more than 25 years ago by Donald Helfgott and Mona Westhaver, the company's visual learning software tools are used today by more than 25 million students and teachers worldwide.