National Braille Challenge tests reading, grammar skills

Jordan Lynch, an 18-year-old Ararat, North Carolina, resident, beat 460 competitors for the chance to travel to Los Angeles, California, on June 28, 2008, to compete in a national competition against the top 60 children and youths ranging from grades one through 12.

The competitors will participate in three or four of five offered events based on reading and grammar skills. The catch is that Lynch, like the other participants, is blind or visually impaired and will be reading and typing in Braille. The National Braille Challenge is in its eighth year and has grown from a regional competition based solely in Southern California to a national event attracting participants from the United States and Canada.

Competition categories, with each session lasting about 50 minutes, include Braille Speed and Accuracy in which participants listen to a taped story and then transcribe it into Braille. They are judged based on the number of correct words and punctuation. Read more in The Mount Airy News online.