Winners of the BADIE Contest 2017

The American Council of the Blind (ACB) is proud to announce the winners of the 2017 BADIE Awards (the Benefits of Audio Description In Education), a "Listening Is Learning" initiative of the Council's Audio Description Project (ADP) and the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP).

The winners of this year's honors (all young people who are blind) are as follows.  Clicking their names will play a recording of each winner reading his or her winning entry, or click here to view a PDF of their essays, which may be easier for screen readers.

Grand Prize Winner: Abby Moreno - Lowell High School-San Francisco, CA

Senior Category (ages 16 to 21):

First Place - Breck Morrissey, Flower Mound High School-Highland Village, TX

Second Place - Khadiujah Person, Nansemond River High School-Suffolk, VA

Junior Category (ages 11 to 15):

First Place - Abby Moreno, Lowell High School-San Francisco, CA

Second Place - Schelbie DeHaai, South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired-Miller, SD

Third Place - John Holstein, WV School for the Blind-Romney, WV

Sophomore Category (ages 7 to 10):

First Place - Audrey Mattingley, WV School for the Blind-Romney, WV

Second Place - Fernando Moran-Padilla, Santa Rita Elementary-Salina, CA

Third Place - Townsend Stemple, WV School for the Blind-Romney, WV

The premise of the BADIE program is simple: kids love movies. If a young person can't see or can't see well, audio description provides access to all the visual images of the movies that their sighted peers enjoy. Description benefits children who are blind and others who have learning disabilities and it has been shown to boost literacy for all children.

The BADIE program asked young people who are blind or have low vision to submit short reviews of any described movie.

"Audio Description uses words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative to convey the visual image from television, film, DVDs, theater, museums and many other settings," stated Kim Charlson, president of the American Council of the Blind. "The young people honored with these awards not only appreciate the ability to enjoy films and television right along with their peers-description helps them and their sighted friends develop language skills through exposure to varied word choice, synonyms, metaphors and similes. I love audio description, and wish I'd had access to it when I was growing up!"

Additional information about ACB's Audio Description Project is available at www.acb.org/adp;  more information about the Described and Captioned Media Program is at: www.dcmp.org.


About the American Council of the Blind

The American Council of the Blind is a national membership organization. Its members are blind, visually impaired, and fully sighted individuals who are concerned about the dignity and well-being of blind people throughout the nation.

Formed in 1961, the ACB is one of the largest organizations of blind people in the world, with more than 70 state and special-interest affiliates and a nationwide network of chapters and members spanning the globe.

For more information about the American Council of the Blind, contact: Eric Bridges, Executive Director, American Council of the Blind, 1703 N. Beauregard St., Suite 420 Alexandria, VA 22311; phone (202) 467-5081 or toll-free, 1-800-424-8666; or visit the web site, www.acb.org.