Delhi Press to introduce two US-based children's magazines

Titled Highlights Champs and Highlights Genie, the magazines will be launched in April.

Delhi Press is all set to bring two US-based children's magazines to India. The magazines, originally published by Highlights for Children Publications, will be launched in April, and are titled Highlights Champ and Highlights Genie.

Highlights, to be launched in India as Highlights Champs, is one of the largest selling children's magazines in the US and is targeted at 7-12-year olds in the metros, SEC AB; the magazine Hi Five will be introduced as Highlights Genie and will target the age group of 2-6 years.

Highlights Champs aims to help children grow in basic skills and knowledge, be creative, have the ability to think and reason, be sensitive towards others, and help young children 'do the right thing' in any given situation. The 44-page monthly offering will be on Hi Bright paper and will have a cover price of Rs 40.

The content mix of Highlights Champs will include a mix of fiction, poetry, science, craft and readers' contribution. Apart from pictures and puzzles, Goofus and Gallant will promote family discussion and help children develop their own code of conduct; The Timbertoes will feature a family of little wooden people and their dog, Spot, wandering through a picture world; the readers' contribution section will showcase drawings and poems of youngsters.

Talking about the new launch, the company spokesperson says, "Both Delhi Press and Highlights for Children share a similar philosophy towards children's learning and development and therefore this was a natural partnership."

Highlights Genies (called Hi Five in the US) celebrates the early years of childhood by helping parents, educators and other caregivers encourage a child's natural sense of wonder. The magazine will have illustrative stories on animals, weather and simple subjects that can bring out the inquisitiveness in kids. It will be a 40-page monthly magazine, with two cover gatefolds on the front and back.

Both the magazines will largely follow a subscription model of distribution but will also leverage the newsstand distribution of Delhi Press across India.

The magazines will have an initial print run of 25,000 copies and will be present in 10,000 school libraries pan India. The FPA rates in Highlights Champs and Highlights Genie is Rs 1 lakh each.

Highlights for Children Publications was founded in 1946.

For the record, Delhi Press publishes 32 magazines in nine languages including Saras Salil, Grihshobha, Champak and The Caravan. It was established in 1939 and is a full service publishing house with its own printing facilities and its own distribution and logistics company that reaches out to more than 3,000 magazine distributors and agents.