Lisamaria has been active in sports all her life. Recently, she’s discovered pole dance. With the Holman Prize, she would use workshops, training and audio description to make pole dance accessible to blind people across the United States.
2019 Candidates
Sally Aurisch
Sally loves traveling and water sports. With the Holman Prize, she would volunteer with different community organizations in Southeast Asia, to learn how the blind populations are served in those countries. She would take this knowledge back home to help diverse communities in Australia.
Kris Scheppe
Kris is the North American representative for Blind Sailing International. He would use the Holman Prize to form a crew of blind sailors to complete in the Race to Alaska, a 750-mile race from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska.
Craig Faris
Craig loves hiking, camping, traveling and sailing. With the Holman Prize, he would use assistive technology to aid him in sailing a 7000-mile course from North America to New Zealand.
Gina Huylenbroeck
Gina enjoys roller coasters and zip lining. With the Holman Prize, she would build a program to take to schools, to educate children about disabilities, and how they can talk and work with their peers who have disabilities.
Raven Wilson
Raven has a passion for fantasy fiction across various mediums. With the Holman Prize, she would create Fandom Fashion, an online store to sell fan merchandise at affordable prices.
Robert Schonfeld
Robert won national awards for his work as a professional photographer. With the Holman Prize, he would create More Than Meets The Eye, an internet platform for the exhibition, sharing and discussion of artwork by visually impaired and blind artists.
Jesse Dufton
Jesse is an experienced winter mountaineer. With the Holman Prize, he would lead an expedition on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. If successful in ascending a peak that hasn’t been climbed, he would propose the peak be named “Blind Ambition”.
Krystle Allen
Krystle, who once advocated for people with disabilities in Tokyo, would use the Holman Prize to pay for fifteen blind women to participate in the Miss Blind Diva Empowerment Fellowship Program. This is a sixteen-week program that provides personal and professional development and ends with the Miss Blind Diva Empowerment Pageant.
Beth Pizzarello
Beth, who has Retinitis Pigmentosa, struggled to find services available to her when she was visually impaired, but not yet legally blind. With the Holman Prize, Beth would create Bridging The Gap, which would provide services to people diagnosed with eye conditions, regardless of their level of sight loss.