Application Deadline: February 16, 2018
All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development is committed to ensuring all children learn to read.
The Sign On For Literacy global prize competition seeks technology-based innovations to increase sign language and literacy outcomes for deaf children in low resource settings. Innovations should provide greater access to local sign languages, early grade reading materials, and/or reading instruction by engaging families, schools, and communities. The competition is led by ACR GCD in collaboration with the World Federation of the Deaf, the Nyle DiMarco Foundation, and Deaf Child Worldwide.
The competition seeks technology-based innovations to increase access to sign languages and literacy interventions for deaf children in low-resource contexts. These innovations will assist parents, educators, communities, and governments in enhancing early childhood development outcomes, improving access to local sign languages, and increasing literacy outcomes of deaf children. The Sign On For Literacy competition is led by ACR GCD in collaboration with the World Federation of the Deaf, the Nyle DiMarco Foundation and Deaf Child Worldwide.
Of the estimated 32 million children around the world who are deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind (DHHDB), 80 percent do not have access to education, and only two percent receive instruction in sign language. This is particularly true in areas of the world with few resources, profoundly affecting children who already face tremendous barriers to economic and social advancement opportunities. Without early access to language, children fail to develop social and cognitive skills at the same rate as their peers, hindering their ability to learn to read and write and isolating them from society over the course of their lives.
Phases and Prizes
ACR GCD has a competition purse of at least $500,000 USD that will be distributed in three phases. Detailed information regarding Phases 2 and 3 will be released following the completion of Phase 1.
There are three phases to the Sign On For Literacy Prize. The first phase is targeted at identifying novel innovations with the capacity for increasing language and literacy outcomes with significant impact; Phase 1 is the focus of this page. The second phase is aimed at prototyping the innovations, whereas the third phase is focused on refining the prototypes, demonstrating their utility in the field, and ensuring that the appropriate mechanisms, partnerships, and plans are in place for the effective implementation of these solutions. Requirements for Phases 2 and 3 of the competition will be described further after the judging and selection of Phase 1 finalists.
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the 2017 Sign On For Literacy global prize competition