[Blindtlk] Readers are Leaders Information

[Steve Jacobson]

Here is information about the Readers are Leaders contest from Barbara Cheadle.  They include a number of changes:


Braille Readers Are Leaders 2007-2008
by Barbara Cheadle

If you saw the announcement in the last issue of Future 
Reflections (found through the following link:
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr26/Issue3/fr2603t
c.htm), you will know that we have made some major changes in our 
annual NFB Braille
Readers are Leaders contest.  It all started with conversations 
among NOPBC and National Association to Promote the Use of 
Braille (NAPUB) leaders, Dr.  Maurer,
and the NFB Jernigan Institute education department.  We wanted 
to streamline the contest, update it, make it more efficient, get 
the prizes out in a more timely
fashion, and do so without diminishing the program in anyway.  
Furthermore, we wanted to find a way to get the top winners and 
their parents and teachers more
actively involved in the NFB.  We think we have accomplished all 
this, and we hope that all our members will be as excited about 
the changes as we are.  The full
details of the contest are on our NFB Website at 
www.nfb.org/nfb/NOPBC_Braille_Readers_Are_Leaders.asp, but here 
is an overview.
Lets begin with what has not changed.  The purpose is, as it 
always has been, to promote the joy of reading for pleasure, to 
promote a pride in Braille as a viable
literacy medium equal to print, and to demonstrate the importance 
of independent reading in the development of Braille literacy 
skills.  Eligibility for the contest has not
changed.  All blind or visually impaired Braille-reading students 
enrolled in an educational program for students from grades 
kindergarten through twelfth grade in the
USA or Canada are eligible to compete in the contest.  And 
competition is still based on reading the largest number of 
Braille pages of leisure reading material during
the contest period as certified by the childs teacher, parent, or 
librarian.
So the heart and soul of the contest remains intact.  Some of the 
other details also remain the same.  The Braille Community 
Service Award is still in place, and so are
the regular grade categories for competition.  And we still give 
special recognition to residential or day schools for the blind 
that enroll a significant percentage of their
students in the contest and in other ways promote Braille 
literacy and the Braille Readers Are Leaders program.  All 
participants will get certificates, and different-
colored print-Braille ribbons will be awarded to contestants who 
read 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, 8,000, and 12,000 pages.
So what has changed? Lets begin with a basic: the time period.  
The contest is now two months, not three.  It begins, as it 
always has, on November 1, but now it
ends on Louis Brailles birthdayJanuary 4.  We believe that the 
shorter time will eventually encourage more parents and teachers 
to enter students in the contest.  It
is a tremendous amount of work to keep track of books and 
materials read, but of course the more kids read, the better they 
get.  Our goal is to strike the best
balance between making the contest long enough to make a 
difference, but short enough that teachers and parents do not 
feel overwhelmed by the amount of time
it takes to document activity for the contest.
	Another change is that this year every participant who 
registers in advance for the contest will get a special 
Braille Readers Are Leaders T-shirt.  Thats
right, we have added a registration process.  Teachers and 
parents have often asked if we could get the certificates and 
prizes to the students sooner.  It currently
takes twelve weeks to process the entry forms and get 
certificates, ribbons, and prizes to the contestants.  To get a 
faster turnaround time, we have instituted an
option for early registration.  And, to provide extra incentive, 
we guarantee a contest T-shirt for every contestant who registers 
for the contest between October 1 and
December 1.  Students who do not register in advance, but who get 
the registration and entry form in by the January 21 deadline, 
will still be eligible for all awards
and cash prizes, but they are not guaranteed a T-shirt.
Now lets talk about prizes.  The biggest and most exciting change 
of all is that this year twelve of the top contestants will win 
an eight-day, seven-night trip for
themselves and a parent (or an adult chaperone) to the 2008 NFB 
convention in Dallas, Texas.  The trip will include 
transportation, hotel room, and other expenses
for eight days, beginning with the parents seminar, continuing 
through the banquet, and ending on the final day of the 
convention session.  The winners will also
have the opportunity to speak briefly at the NAPUB and NOPBC 
meetings.  We couldnt think of a better way to reward these 
bright, competitive young Braille
readers from all over the country than to offer them the 
opportunity to join in the excitement, the fun, and the 
camaraderie of the National Federation of the Blind in
Convention assembled.
Not everyone may elect to compete for the trip, and, while there 
is no substitute for the trip, one thing that has always worked 
as an incentive in the contest is cash
prizes, and we still offer those.  The top three contestants in 
each of five categories will win a $50 cash prize.  The five 
categories are grades K-1; 2-3, 4-5, 6-8
(middle school); and 9-12 (high school).  Every contestant will 
be automatically considered for an award in his or her 
age-appropriate grade category.  This includes
delayed readers and un-graded students.
We have found that even students with delays can be competitive 
in their grade category because we do not (and never have) put 
restrictions on the grade level of
the materials the contestant reads.  For example, we expect that 
a high school student who reads at a third-grade level will read 
third-grade-level material, or even
below, for the competition and therefore, with motivation and 
diligence, could beat out an average or even better than average 
student who reads at grade level.
Students with reading delays may also submit information to be 
considered for the Jennifer Baker Award, one of three special 
awards that qualified students may
choose to compete for.
Two of these three awards replace categories we no longer have.  
The Jennifer Baker Award replaces the Most Improved Award, and 
the Twin Visionr Award
replaces the Print-to-Braille category.  The third award, the 
Braille Community Service Award, was instituted about three years 
ago, and is just beginning to fulfill what
we hope to accomplish through it.  Although it is not new, we are 
including a brief description of it along with the other two new 
awards.
Braille Community Service Award.  This award most closely 
reflects the ultimate mission of the contest.  Braille literacy 
enhances the ability of blind children of all ages
to demonstrate leadership through service to others.  For 
example, a blind teen may use Braille to read to lonely residents 
in a nursing home or use his or her Braille
skills to organize and conduct a food drive for a school project.  
The opportunities for service, if you are literate, are endless.  
The goal of this award is to encourage
contestants who have developed good Braille skills to reach out 
into the community and use those skills for the good of others.
This award is restricted to students in grades six through 
twelve.  To be considered for this award, the student must read a 
minimum number of pages for the contest
and submit a letter of nomination.  Up to five students will be 
selected for this award, and all winners of this award will 
automatically win a trip to the convention.
Twin Visionr Awards for dual print-and-Braille readers or 
print-to-Braille readers.  Funded by the American Action Fund for 
Blind Children and Adults, the award is for
elementary students who have learned and used both print and 
Braille from an early age, and also for students who were print 
readers and have switched to, or are
in the process of switching to, Braille.  No fewer than one 
student and no more than five will be selected for this award.  
To nominate a student for this award, a
teacher or other individual intimately familiar with that 
students literacy development must write a letter.  The student 
must also participate in the regular competition.
2008 Jennifer Baker Awards.  Named after Jennifer Baker, a young 
woman from Maryland who overcame many severe additional 
disabilities to become Braille literate
and was a frequent national winner in the Braille Readers Are 
Leaders program.  Jennifer was an avid reader who traveled the 
world in her mind with the help of
Amelia Bedelia and other characters from her beloved Braille 
storybooks.  She died of kidney failure shortly before her 
twenty-first birthday.  This award is given in her
memory to no fewer than one student and no more than five who 
submit a letter of nomination with information documenting the 
obstacles the student has overcome
to become Braille literate.  Examples of those eligible for this 
award might be students with cognitive or physical disabilities, 
English-as-second-language learners,
students with brain injuries, or students who have been otherwise 
educationally disadvantaged.  To nominate a student for this 
award, a teacher or other individual
who is intimately familiar with that students literacy 
development must submit a letter of nomination.  The student must 
also participate in the regular competition.
If you have been counting the number of possible winners, you 
know that we offer a minimum of eighteen and a maximum of thirty 
cash awards, which means that
not every contestant will win a trip.  If more than twelve of the 
winners have elected to compete for the trip, then a run-off 
essay competition will be supervised by
Jennifer Dunnam, a long-time leader in the Minnesota affiliate 
and the manager of Braille programs under the education 
department of the NFB Jernigan Institute.
Jennifer will also be managing the day-to-day operations of 
registration, processing entry forms, sending out certificates 
and prizes, and collaborating with NOPBC
and NAPUB to judge the contest and to evaluate the changes we put 
in place this year.
This brings us back to one very important component that has not 
changed.  The contest, you notice, is still co-sponsored by the 
National Association to Promote the
Use of Braille and the National Organization of Parents of Blind 
Children.  Those divisions will continue to work with our 
national office and state affiliates, as they
have for the past twenty-five years, to promote and build this 
program with pride, energy, and all of the creative and financial 
resources available to us.