# Team wins BT Young Pioneer Award with app for dyslexia

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/09/29/team-wins-bt-young-pioneer-award-app-dyslexia/
- Published: 2020-09-29T08:30:57+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**An all-female team of teenagers from The Sacred Heart High School in London, has
won the BT Young Pioneer Award 2020, for an app to help people with dyslexia.**

The 14 year olds, Dorothy, Sonia, and Justine, created the Dimming Dyslexia app 
to analyse online text and other educational resources and translate them into formats
that are easier to understand for those with dyslexia. For example, turning written
text into videos and cartoons, and altering font size and colours on the page.

The team were inspired to create the app after witnessing how some pupils were perhaps
struggling with some basic skills, such as reading and writing.

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As winners of this year’s [BT Young Pioneer Award](https://www.tech4goodawards.com/enter-now/youngpioneer/),
they will receive the support of BT experts who will work with the team to take 
Dimming Dyslexia from prototype to a fully working app. They will also receive £
10,000 to fund the project so they can take it to the next level.

The award is part of the AbilityNet [Tech4Good Awards](https://www.tech4goodawards.com/).
This is the 10^(th) year that BT has been lead sponsor for the awards, which this
year saw a record 400 entries.

Last year’s winner, Mihika Sharma, who invented the ‘Smart Stick’, has been working
with BT and the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) for the past year
to carry out market research within the visual impairment community. This research
is helping support her plans to bring the ‘Smart Stick’ to market, helping those
with visual impairments.

Professor Kerensa Jennings, BT Group Director of Digital Impact, said:

> “The calibre of entries this year has been outstanding, with a record breaking
> number of individuals and teams submitting their ideas. We are absolutely thrilled
> to announce Dimming Dyslexia as this year’s winner’s’ as we recognise the positive
> impact this could have to help 1.3 million people in education. With the support
> of BT, we hope to help the Dimming Dyslexia team reach their goal in their ambition
> in supporting more people with dyslexia.”
> “It’s so inspiring to see how young people are playing such a key role in helping
> to tackle societal challenges, working to improve the lives of so many.”

Dorothy from The Sacred Heart High School’s STEaM TEAM said:

> “We’ve been working really hard to create a prototype for Dimming Dyslexia, so
> we’re very excited to start working with BT to take the development of the app
> to the next level. Our ambition is to get ‘Dimming Dyslexia’, onto the apps stores
> so that we can help as many people with dyslexia as possible.”

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