American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
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Braille Readers Are Leaders
by Lisamaria Martinez
Support for Braille literacy is one of the longstanding tenets of the National Federation of the Blind and its sister organization, the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. For nearly forty years, with only a brief hiatus, the Action Fund and the NFB have sponsored Braille Readers Are Leaders (BRAL), an annual Braille-reading competition. Initially the contest was open exclusively to blind children in grades K-12. In recent years it expanded to welcome adult Braille readers.
The 2023-24 Braille Readers Are Leaders contest registered nearly three hundred participants. The contest ran from December 4, 2023 through January 23, 2024. Throughout this period, Braille readers logged the number of minutes they spent reading Braille each day. By the time the contest closed, participants in the combined categories read Braille for a whopping 711,196 minutes, or a staggering total of 351 days!
The 2023-24 contest added a new category for participants. In recent years the organizers received feedback from the teaching community, suggesting the inclusion of a Teacher of Blind Students category. We organizers loved the idea so much that we added a new category for teachers to this year's contest. The Teacher of Blind Students pilot category was very popular. Teachers can start practicing their Braille reading for the 2024-25 BRAL contest.
Many parents of contest participants shared their thoughts with us, and we were delighted to hear from them. “My fourth grader is loving the challenge this year!” one parent told us. “This is the first time she has finished a chapter book in one day, and she is enjoying becoming a more fluent reader. She commented, ‘I'm reading faster than the speed of light!’ Though she's not THAT fast yet, she is steadily making progress. Seeing her skills improve has been empowering for her.”
On the first day of the contest Jamie, a blind parent from California, wrote, “I read three short books to the kids in contracted UEB. Everywhere Babies; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?; and Goodnight Moon. One of these was super easy because I knew by memory what the words were supposed to say. The other two were much harder. Starting with the one I had memorized helped me decode some contractions I didn't recognize, and that helped a lot. My goal for the challenge is to read at least one book to the kids in Braille every day.”
If you have any thoughts, feedback, or comments about BRAL, feel free to contact us at [email protected].
Now let's get to the list of this year's winners. So, who are they?
YOUTH WINNERS
Grades K-1
1st Place: Sawyer D., New York, 6,467 minutes
Tied for 1st Place: Zachary D., New York, 6,467 minutes
2nd Place: Max T., Maine, 1,496 minutes
3rd Place: Sawyer S., Georgia, 1,175 minutes
Grades 2-3
1st Place: Luise S., Virginia, 2,590 minutes
2nd Place: Mila C., California, 2,147 minutes
3rd Place: Zayden W., Florida, 1,837 minutes
Grades 4-5
1st Place: Shaindel E., New Jersey, 3,080 minutes
2nd Place: Maeve E., Utah, 3,000 minutes
3rd Place: Zora W., New York, 1,755 minutes
Grades 6-8
1st Place: Narjis K., Louisiana, 7,204 minutes
2nd Place: Gabriel W., Florida, 5,250 minutes
3rd Place: Freya S., Kentucky, 3,557 minutes
Grades 9-12
1st Place: Sierra C., Tennessee, 14,820 minutes
2nd Place: Amare L., North Carolina, 6,260 minutes
3rd Place: Samaija B., Tennessee, 2,936 minutes
ADULT WINNERS
Adult Novice
1st Place: B.J. Snyder, New York, 13,910 minutes
2nd Place: Alfonso Simental, Colorado, 12,360 minutes
3rd Place: Arianna Elizabeth Del Bene, New York, 10,035 minutes
Adult Intermediate
1st Place: Robert Gardner, Illinois, 8,366 minutes
2nd Place: Joseph Giacinto, Arizona, 8,000 minutes
3rd Place: Karen Larsen, South Dakota, 7,523 minutes
Adult Expert
1st Place: Angela Randall, Ohio; 18,840 minutes
2nd Place: Cassandra Xavier, Massachusetts, 18,774 minutes
3rd Place: Anna Trotman, Alabama, 18,240 minutes
TEACHERS
1st Place: Meliza Lorenzo, Florida, 4,067 minutes
2nd Place: Debbie Wright, Florida, 2,510 minutes
3rd Place: Sarah Savell, Louisiana, 2,032 minutes
Each participant received a BRAL keychain and a T-shirt. Winners received additional cool prizes, such as a book in the Choose Your Own Adventure series or a tactile game.
We're very excited at this year's results, and we can't wait to begin next year's contest. It's coming sooner than you might realize!