Onkyo Braille International Essay Contest - Entry Pack - 2017

NB if you would like a paper braille copy of this Entry Pack please contact James Bowden on 07710 069 232 or

Background and Introduction

Each year, Onkyo and the Braille Mainichi, two Japanese technology companies, sponsor an international contest whose purpose is to inspire people with their stories about braille. The contest is broken down into international regions and then countries. The European section is co-ordinated by the European Blind Union (EBU). Its members in 45 European countries are responsible for the collection, selection and translation into English of the essays. In the UK,the RNIB acts as the EBU representative and co-ordinates the UK entries.

Over the last nine years the Onkyo contest has been met with great enthusiasm by European braille users

This year there will be seven winning essays receiving a total of $6,000 in prize money. Results will be announced by the EBU Judging Panel at the end of September 2017.

This Year's Competition

We are looking for people to inspire others to find out more about braille and hopefully learn it, so we'd very much like to hear from you if you can do this. Here are some suggested themes for this year's competition but they are not exclusive, you can make up your own:

  • “The role of braille in furthering visually impaired people's participation in political, economic, cultural, social and family life”. Braille in the age of technology, using braille at all ages, braille and voting, are but a few examples of how this theme may be addressed.
  • “Life with braille - we encourage teachers, transcribers, those who use braille in any way or who would like to use it, to write about the role of braille". We encourage factual description of potential innovation, products and ideas for promoting braille throughout Europe.
  • “Amusing stories about Braille”
  • “The future of Braille”
  • “What advantages and disadvantages does Braille have over speech synthesizers and recorded books and documents”
  • “Braille and music”
  • “Braille and access to tourism”

As you can see, the themes are very broad, factual as well as creative writing is encouraged. What is most important is that the essay is original, imaginative and can inspire people. The competition is open to all ages. In fact it is our younger writers that have been most successful in previous years. The essay doesn't have to be long and it can be in different formats (a poem, an interview a letter).

How to Enter

  1. Write your inspirational essay! It can be anything up to 1000 words long (with a 10% tolerance)
  2. Insert at the beginning of the essay (before the Title) the following information:
  • Name, surname, gender and age of participant,
  • Country, (UK)
  • Name of the EBU national member processing the entry, (RNIB)
  • Number of words
  1. Complete the Entry Form (see Appendix 1). Entries cannot be accepted without a completed form
  2. Read the competition rules.
  3. Please email your completed essayto or post it to Helena Suprun, RNIB, Midgate House, Midgate, Peterborough, PE1 1TNto arrive no later than 19th May 2017
  4. We have to submit the essays to the EBU in electronic format, so a word document is preferred. If however you would like to submit your essay and information in hard copy (either braille or print) then that is fine, we will transcribe your work into an electronic format before forwarding it on.
  5. We will acknowledge your entry on receipt
  6. We will let you know the results of the UK judging by the 30th June 2017

GOOD LUCK!

Appendix 1 - Entry Form

1. Name.

2. Full postal address, including postcode.

3. Email address if you have one.

4. Phone number.

5. Please tell us your preferred format should we need to get in touch with you.

6. Please confirm that you have read the conditions of the competition and that you agree to them (particularly those on the copyright of your essay)

7. Number of words of essay.

8. Age of contestant.

9. For contestants aged under 16, we need to verify that a parent, guardian or member of staff at your school has read this essay. Please state yes if this is true.

10. Name of parent/guardian/member of staff, plus address (including phone or email if possible) if different from your own.

Appendix 2 - General Information and Rules (produced by the EBU)

1. Purpose and theme

1.1. The European braille essay contest run by the European Blind Union on behalf of Onkyo Corporation and the Braille Mainichi aims to promote the use of braille as a key to blind people’s access to information and to their social inclusion.

1.2. We propose a variety of themes so that participants can address the importance of braille from several angles. Important: the list below is not exclusive, participants may choose other themes relating to the use of braille;

- “The role of braille in furthering visually impaired people's participation in political, economic, cultural, educational social and family life”. Braille in the age of technology, using braille at all ages, braille and voting, are but a few examples of how this theme may be addressed.

- “Life with braille - we encourage teachers, transcribers, those who use braille in any way or who would like to use it, to write about the role of braille". We encourage factual description of potential innovation, products and ideas for promoting braille throughout Europe.

- “Amusing stories about Braille”

- “The future of Braille”

- "Advantages and disadvantages of braille compared with using speech synthesizers and recorded books and documents"

- “Braille and music”

- “Braille and access to tourism”

When announcing the contest, EBU members may also suggest additional themes that are particularly relevant to their national context.

Authors are invited to give all themes their own imaginative interpretation and to be creative, using formats different from telling one’s life story, such as a letter, a poem, or an interview.

2. General conditions

2.1. Participants

All braille users, including sighted users of braille, residing in an EBU country and Israel may take part in the contest regardless of age.

Repeated participation in consecutive years shall be allowed, except for the first prize winner who shall be prevented from entering the competition for 3 years.

Professional writers, i.e. persons who regularly publish on the open media market for money. May not take part in the contest.

2.2. Essays

Essays shall be submitted in digital format.

Participants may not submit more than one essay.

Essays submitted in a given year may not be submitted to the following contests.

Essays shall be in English or in the author's national language.

Essays in the national language shall not exceed 1000 words (plus a 10% tolerance).

Essays shall carry the following mentions:

  • Name, surname, gender and age of participant,
  • Country,
  • Name of the EBU national member processing the entry,
  • Number of words in the national language.

Important: the above mentions should be inserted at the top of essays, before the title.

National members shall let EBU have the total number of essays submitted to them.

Decisions of the Jury shall be final and shall not be subject to any appeal whatsoever.”

2.3. Copyright

By taking part in the contest,

Authors shall assignautomatically and exclusively to EBU worldwide all rights including copyright, and EBU may assign or license these rights.

Authors shall allow EBU to use their name and their essays in publicity and for information purposes as EBU may require.

As copyright holder, EBU may give permission to the authors and to their national members to make use of the essays as they see fit.

Onkyo winners shall provide EBU with their photographs and shall entitle EBU to reproduce, adapt, edit and publish their photographs on any media, including web and print.

3. Procedure

Participants shall submit their essays to the EBU national member in their country no later than 19 May 2017.

EBU national members shall organise some form of pre-selection so as to submit no more than 5 entries to the EBU jury by 30 June 2017. They shall inform EBU of the total number of essays they have received and processed.

EBU national members shall translate the selected essays in English and send them on to the EBU jury in electronic format (please use word, Arial 14), at

It will greatly help us if you name your files as follows: Country_Name_Surname of author.

4. Prizes

  • The best Otsuki prize (First Prize): 2,000 US dollars.
  • Excellent Works prize:

- Junior category (up to 25): 1,000 US dollars.

- Senior category (over 25): 1,000 US dollars.

  • Fine Works prizes:

- Junior category (2 prizes): 500 US dollars each.

- Senior category (2 prizes): 500 US dollars each.