An Absolute Gem of a Story

Congratulations to Year 2 student Gem for her prize-winning entry in the 2023 Braille Writing competition. 

Gem’s story, The Extremely Annoying Bear was one of 44 entries received this year.

Prizes are awarded for tactile graphics, proof reading, creativity, and accuracy of braille.

The competition is held by the Sydney Braille Forum for school students in New South Wales who are learning to read and write braille.

Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are blind or vision impaired. It consists of raised dots arranged in a grid, with different dot patterns representing letters, numbers, punctuation marks, symbols and music notation. Users read braille with their fingers.

The speaker at this year’s award night was R A Spratt, TV writer, podcast host, and author of the popular Friday Barnes, Peski Kids and Nanny Piggins series. R A Spratt delivered an entertaining speech about her experiences as an author before presenting the prizes. 

Gem’s submission was awarded the Creativity of Story Award in the Junior Primary section.

– Jacqui Donnelly
Learning Enrichment Teacher – Visual Impairment Specialist

Gem is pictured below accepting her prize with R A Spratt