Time to get your braille reader registered for the 2010 Illinois Braille Challenge to be held on Saturday, March 6, 2010. The deadline for registration is January 15, 2010. The Illinois Braille Challenge Permission Form is available for download or copies of the Permission Form can be sent to you. Call the Illinois Instructional Materials Center at 312-666-3699 and we can send you as many copies as you need. The Challenge, which promotes Braille literacy and awareness, involves a two-stage academic competition designed to motivate school-age Braille readers to excel in this vital medium.

Last year, forty-one Illinois youngsters in grades 1-12 competed in a series of five contests demonstrating skills such as Braille reading and comprehension, accuracy and speed, spelling, and proofreading. Prizes range from $50 to $500 with a chance to compete in the national finals to be held in Los Angeles this summer. Please take note that a significant change was made to the contest this year. Students participating in the Sophomore category will now take the Charts & Graphs contest instead of the Braille Spelling contest. The Braille Challenge National Advisory Committee recommended this change to reinforce the use of tactile graphics at a younger age. This gives students in grades 5-6 the opportunity to demonstrate their competence with raised line drawings in The Braille Challenge contest.

Braille Institute http://www.brailleinstitute.org/about_the_braille_challenge

The Braille Challenge Sponsors 2010 are:

Freedom Scientific http://www.freedomscientific.com/

National Braille Press http://www.nbp.org/

Seedlings Braille Books for Children http://www.seedlings.org/