Houghton Mifflin Co. News Release - November 13, 2008

Holt McDougal's MediaSmart Named Awards of Excellence Winner by Tech & Learning Magazine

AUSTIN, Texas — November 13, 2008 — Holt McDougal's MediaSmart DVD-ROM recently fetched an Award of Excellence from Tech & Learning magazine. Judges evaluated MediaSmart according to its success not only among students, but also educators and industry professionals.

"It is a special honor to be singled out for the Awards of Excellence," said Allen Wheatcroft, president of Holt McDougal. "MediaSmart is an excellent product that teaches students how to lend a critical eye to what they see in the media—an invaluable skill to have in today's media-centered world."

MediaSmart strikes a perfect balance between instruction and entertainment. This dynamic learning tool develops students' media literacy and critical thinking skills using excerpts from public service announcements, national news reports and popular feature films. Each communications clip (preceded by a brief introduction) corresponds to a series of lessons about how the media manipulates sounds and images to elicit particular viewer reactions. A guided analysis also provides instructors with additional discussion topics and activity ideas.

The Awards of Excellence program, sponsored by Tech & Learning magazine, has reviewed and recognized technology-based learning products for more than a quarter century. Critics consistently rank Awards of Excellence winners among the industry's best products. In addition to MediaSmart, Holt McDougal has produced three other Awards of Excellence winners: the Holt Lab Generator CD-ROM (2007), Holt Lesson Tutorial Videos (2007) and Holt Middle School Mathematics Premier Online Student Editions (2004). To learn more about the Awards of Excellence program, visit http://www.techlearning.com/aoe/.

About Holt McDougal
Holt McDougal (formerly Holt, Rinehart and Winston and McDougal Littell) a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is one of the nation's leading secondary education publishers. Products include print, technology, and Internet support for curricular instruction in science, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and world languages. For more information, visit www.holtmcdougal.com.

About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company is a global education leader and the world's largest publisher of educational materials for pre-K–12 schools. The Company publishes a comprehensive set of best-in-class educational solutions, ranging from research-based textbook programs to instructional technology to standards-based assessments for students and educators. The Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and awards-winning literature for adults and young readers. With origins dating back to 1832, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt combines its tradition of excellence with a commitment to innovation. To learn more about Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, visit www.hmhpub.com.

About Tech & Learning
For over 27 years, Tech & Learning has been—and continues to be—the leading resource for K–12 leaders. Its publications, Web sites, and events provide factual and evaluative information on trends, products, and strategies to educators who purchase technology products in their districts and schools. Tech & Learning delivers the highest quality content and essential resources to manage, train, and teach technology. For more information, visit www.techlearning.com.