Updated as of June 18, 2024.
Braille Challenge 2024
Year after year, the Braille Challenge provides braille readers an opportunity to hone their braille and tactile graphics reading skills. The Braille Institute’s Braille Challenge web page has 2024 information, but that information can be helpful for making 2025 Braille Challenge plans.
In-person competition
Each year, the Maryland School for the Blind hosts a regional Braille Challenge contest, Maryland Braille Challenge. Please reach out to us at the Bridges Helpdesk for more information.
This year’s event was held on February 10, 2024. The theme was a LEGO theme: We Build Our Future with Braille! Dozens of students, families, educators, and other allies joined together at the Maryland School for the Blind on Saturday, February 10. It was a fabulous day, and we had a great time reconnecting with our friends and making new friends that day!
Individual teacher-proctored competition
Of course, not everyone who wants to participate can attend. Illness, transportation issues, and other obstacles can keep great students from engaging in the Braille Challenge contest. But that’s not a problem!
You can enter a Braille Challenge contest without attending the Maryland Braille Challenge or another regional competition. The Braille Institute (the agency that coordinates the Braille Challenge nationwide) offers INDIVIDUAL REGISTRATIONS. Your teacher of blind/low vision students (TVI) can complete the Braille Challenge Preliminary Contest Request Form for Teachers (when it becomes available), and the Braille Institute will send the tests to your school for your teacher to administer to you.
Please note: you may NOT participate in more than one regional challenge event, and you may not participate in both the individual competition and any regional challenge.
Preparing for the competition
Contest Age Groups
- Apprentice (1st and 2nd grades)
- Freshman (3rd and 4th grades)
- Sophomore (5th and 6th grades)
- Junior Varsity (7th, 8th and 9th grades)
- Varsity (10th, 11th and 12th grades)
To prepare for the contest, you might want to download some of the sample contest files:
- 2021 through 2023 Braille Challenge Sample Contests download page
- 2012 through 2019 Braille Challenge Sample Contests download page
More Braille Challenge information
Participant Information (for Students and Parents)
- Usually, you do not need to be a resident of the state in which you enter a regional competition
- HOWEVER, each participant may only engage in the preliminary competition ONCE per year.
Bridges Technical Assistance Center
We at the Bridges Technical Assistance Center LOVE the Braille Challenge! Our Program Coordinator, Chris Nusbaum, has won the Maryland Regional and has competed on the national level multiple times, and, year after year, our Director, Carlton Anne Cook Walker, has supported and cheered on her students in Maryland and other regional contests!
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us!
Contact the Bridges Helpdesk for More Information
Email: Helpdesk@imagemd.org
Text: Send to: (410) 357-1546
Voice mail: Call (410) 357-1546, leave a voice mail message, and we will return your call
This unique project is being coordinated through The IMAGE Center of Maryland, a center for independent living in Towson, and it is funded by a grant from the Maryland Department of Education Division of Special Education/Early Intervention Services.