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CONCEPT :
How would you write an evocative story without referring to blue skies, handsome princes, dark corners, disappearing objects, etc.? How will you tell a story using all the senses except that of sight?
Many stories are being published in Braille, and that is a wonderful trend. With modern technology, any text can be scanned and printed in Braille, or even read out to a person using assistive software. But do meanings of visually descriptive words become accessible too?
READISCOVERY is an opportunity for blind, VI and sighted writers to explore and share their imagination and talent. It is also an opportunity for everyone to think out of the visual box.
Contest Concept & Coordination: Anita Iyer Narayan
READISCOVERY (c) ' 22
COMPETITION RULES:
The contest is for writers who are
Blind / Visually Impaired.
This time, Sighted Writers are also welcome to the challenge.
The idea is to encourage everyone to explore their imagination and writing skills.
Age: 18 years & above
Language: English
Word Count: 1000-2500 words
Email your stories to: ekanshtrust@gmail.com
[Email Subject: Readiscovery]
Last date for submission: 5th November, 2022
Format: DOC/PDF only
Mention your name, address and telephone number
Attach your disability certificate [Blind/Visually Impaired]
Main rule: Avoid visual references, descriptions, etc.
The stories must appeal to and be understood by people who are blind from birth. Themes could from any genre and not necessarily about someone who is blind. It must not be a biography.
*Writers who are blind can engage scribes or translators.
Prizes
[Only for Blind writers]
Frist Prize: Rupees 10,000/-
Second Prize: Rupees 7500/-
Third Prize: Rupees 5000/-
Winning entries will be published on
EKansh Trust and HarperCollins
website and SM pages.
This time we invite sighted writers to participate too. However, there's a registration fee of Rupees 300/- and no prizes since this is primarily an opportunity for blind writers to explore and share their imagination and talent.
Winning entries will be published on our website and social media pages with due credit.
HarperCollins will help edit, and publish the winning entries on their website.
Please write to info@ekansh.org for details.
Certificates will be awarded to all participants.
MEET THE JUDGES:
It is wonderful to have extremely accomplished judges on our panel. Their profiles are given below.
We were asked why the contest is being held in English Language Story Writing only. We welcome all stories, and have requested writers to use translators [virtual and real time] to send us their entries. The Judges are all fluent in English and since we cannot possibly have judges who know all written scripts and languages, we are restricting our entries to English. Winning stories can always be translated by volunteers to other languages. The main criterion is that all stories are FULLY understood by the readers
..Anita Iyer Narayan
Nikita Raut:
She wears many hats and has won many accolades, the most prestigious and recent one being the “National Award in the category of best Employee [Visual impairment] conferred upon her by the Ministry of Social justice and Empowerment” Awarded by the Honourable President of India. She is also 40 Under 40 winner of the HR Award 2018-19 constituted by Jombay for excellency in the HR profession having competed with over 1600 HR professionals from different industries in the country.
Classical music exponent [ MA – vocal], PHD HRM aspirant, she joined Bank of Baroda in 2009 as Manager HR and in a short span of time, earned 3 promotions and rose to the senior leadership level of Assistant General Manager in the bank, thus becoming the youngest and also the first blind employee in the Bank to rise up to this senior level.
A motivational speaker Human Resources leader with more than a decade of experience, she has been influencing, developing, and motivating people across the country to transform lives. Though 100 % blind by birth she is efficient in independently operating computers and mobile phone just as any sighted person with help of a screen reading software.
Born without sight but a great vision, she believes “No adversity has the power over us, it is our attitude that defines our success in life”
Sameer Latey:
Mumbai-based Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of work experience in leading private-sector companies, currently working as Senior Manager in the Accounts Consolidation department at Reliance Industries Ltd.
He has been felicitated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) at their annual awards function in January 2020 under the “Differently abled Chartered Accountants” category. He also received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Income-tax department in August 2020 for assisting in making the Income-tax website accessible to screenreaders & for assisting in making the Income-tax return forms screen reader-accessible.
In May 2021, he joined the Committee of Management of a Mumbai-based NGO engaged in various activities to help the blind including converting books into accessible format she has been conducting online & offline courses for blind commerce students on using Tally with JAWS.
He was born blind in one eye & lost all eyesight in his other eye in 2001 due to medical problems. At present, he is completely blind. His hobbies include participating in quizzes & reading books (both fiction & non-fiction).
Rahul Kelapure [our winner of the Readiscovery ’21 contest]:
Assistant Legal Advisor in the Legal Affairs Department, Division of Policy of Securities and Exchange board of India (SEBI) is a merit holder in HSC with Gold Medallist in LLB from prestigious Government Law College Mumbai University. Rahul has recently won AOF Young Achievers Award, for excellence in educational and professional qualifications, distinctive skills and achievements attained at a young age. Along with these achievements, Rahul has completed Post Graduate course in Securities Law from National Institute ofSecurities Market (NISM) with distinction and Post Graduate Diploma in Cyber Laws from Asian School of Cyber Laws (ASCL). He is presently perusing Company Secretary course and MBA in finance.
Public speaking and sharing his professional and academic experiences is Rahul’s passion, he has been a speaker in various conferences on finance including Programs with Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Mumbai (ICSI) and ITM B School Kharghar with Centre for Alternative Finance Department to name a few.
He is a torch barer for SEBI's workshops on Accessibility and Investor Education for persons with disability for various institutes across India. Rahul has so far conducted more than 25 such workshops in last about 1 year, with specific focus on accessibility of the financial services for persons with disability.
Rahul is also instrumental in liaising with Governments and the regulators including RBI and IRDA for accessibility of financial services for persons with disabilities. Apart from these achievements, with the aim of helping the people with vision impairment and print disability, Rahul in association with various NGOs is currently working on providing Marathi Optical Character Recognition service which will enable them to read books in Marathi in digital format.
Along with this Rahul has recently started training people who are visually impaired in accessing Android phones effectively. With this service Rahul wants to achieve financial accessibility and literacy for all.
An Example: A Google search will tell you that Harry Potter books and movies have been made accessible for persons with visual challenges.
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, Chapter Eight - The Deathday Party
An excerpt...
October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among the staff and students. Her Pepperup potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterward. Ginny Weasley, who had been looking pale, was bullied into taking some by Percy. The steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the impression that her whole head was on fire.
Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake rose, the flower beds turned into muddy streams, and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden sheds. Oliver Wood's enthusiasm for regular training sessions, however, was not dampened, which was why Harry was to be found, late one stormy Saturday afternoon a few days before Halloween, returning to Gryffindor Tower, drenched to the skin and splattered with mud.
Even aside from the rain and wind it hadn't been a happy practice session. Fred and George, who had been spying on the Slytherin team, had seen for themselves the speed of those new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. They reported that the Slytherin team was no more than seven greenish blurs, shooting through the air like missiles.
As Harry squelched along the deserted corridor he came across somebody who looked just as preoccupied as he was. Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor Tower, was staring morosely out of a window, muttering under his breath, ". . . don't fulfill their requirements . . . half an inch, if that . . ."
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"Braille and assistive technology will help someone who is blind read this excerpt, but how will it be imagined and understood by someone who has been blind from birth? How would a similar scene be written by/for that person? THIS is what READISCOVERY(c) is about." ...Anita Iyer Narayan
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