Fernando’s work in social services has helped people across multiple continents. With the Holman Prize, he would teach blind people how to build accessible, low cost computers.
2019 Semifinalists
Read about our 41 Semifinalists and dive into their pitch videos on our YouTube playlist.
Alieu Jaiteh, The Gambia
Alieu is the founder of Start Now, a training program for blind people in The Gambia. With the Holman Prize, he would provide eighty blind people with rehabilitation training in rural Gambia.
Yuma Decaux, Australia
Yuma loves hiking and surfing. With the Holman Prize, he would build an online community to make astronomy more accessible to blind people, with the hopes of a blind person discovering an exoplanet.
Joshua Tatman
Josh is a motocross racer. With the Holman Prize, he and his friend Pat, who is also blind, would travel the country to motivate blind people to try different sports like snowboarding, jet skiing, sailing and more.
Johnny Tai
Johnny has a bachelor’s degree in social work. With the Holman Prize, he would film a series of professionally audio-described self-defense videos that blind people could access online.
Paul Lemm
When Paul became interested in audio games, he taught himself to program. With the Holman Prize, he and other blind developers would develop their prototype software Sable, which would allow blind people to create audio games without coding or scripting.
Finn Hellman
Finn is passionate about Brazilian jiu-jitsu (bjj). With the Holman Prize, he would travel to train with blind Brazilian jiu-jitsu experts worldwide, and then teach other blind people this martial art.
Matt Formston
Matt is a two-time world champion in para-surfing. He would use the Holman Prize to run surfing workshops for blind children and youth all over the world.
Dennis Gallant
Dennis worked as a teacher ranger with the National Park service. With the Holman Prize, he would create a podcast to highlight the specific sounds from various national park locations, which would help blind people learn about the natural world in an accessible way.
Reem Hamodi
Reem grew up in Iraq where she didn’t have access to books in an accessible format. With the Holman Prize, she would set up a system to record audiobooks and distribute them online to blind students in Iraq.