National Braille Press announces 2026 winner of the Touch of Genius Prize was awarded to Ann Cunningham for a teaching method and product called Flip-pics.
BOSTON, June 26, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- National Braille Press (NBP) recently announced that the 2026 winner of the Louis Braille Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation was awarded to Ann Cunningham for a teaching method and product called Flip-pics, that creates tactile graphics for the blind and visually impaired. Flip-pics offers an innovative way for a blind person to understand even complex images with more clarity and less clutter. It segregates information into physical logical layers that align with linear perspective principles.
For education, this works for any type of image with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) from teaching perspective on a landscape, to layers on a map, changes in math charts, graphs, or chemical formulas.
Depending on how detailed or complex the item is, more layers are added to understand the concept. One would start by feeling the back layer, and add each layer to understand distance and perspective for a landscape or layers in a map. Similarly for a graph or molecular formula, one could visualize each change in the progression as one adds each layer.
These images promise to offer teachers, parents, or professors, a solution to create one-off pictures and provide publishers a path to commercial production.
Access to information and the ability to develop and share ideas with others is important for everyone. Blind and visually impaired readers enjoy using Flip-pics to explore pictures on their own and share with each other. Tactile literacy, and braille are critical components to ensure that blind people have the same learning opportunities, and access to the same information as sighted people. People need images to learn how pictures work and to inspire their own creativity, with the goal of turning consumers into creators.
Ann Cunningham, author, artist, and innovator, of Golden, CO, began teaching tactile art at the Colorado Center for the Blind in 1999. Since then, she has completed multiple projects, won many awards and recognition from organizations across the country. Her work spans these diverse areas as she helps people develop connections to fine art and graphics through touch. Her tactile artwork can be seen in public works of art across the United States and into Canada.
"As we communicate increasingly more information through images, it is becoming increasingly important that all people have access to that imagery to understand cultural references and complex information," says Ann Cunningham. "With Flip-pics, my goal has been to make complex visual information easier to access by organizing it into meaningful layers that encourage exploration. Receiving the Louis Braille Touch of Genius Prize is an incredible honor, and I am grateful to National Braille Press for recognizing the importance of tactile images in education, creativity, and everyday life."
She is currently a founding member of the Tactile Art Collective, dedicated to exploring and expanding the field of tactile art. She is a co-owner of Sensation Books, makers of the Sensational BlackBoard, dedicated to making information about the world more accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired. Cunningham passionately believes that tactile access to properly formatted art can play the same role for people who are blind that visual art plays for people who are sighted.
National Braille Press awards the Touch of Genius Prize annually, thanks to the support from the Lavelle Fund for the Blind. It is awarded for a project that shows the most innovative idea in the field of braille and tactile literacy, and attracts innovators from around the world who want to help improve the lives of people who are blind and have low vision. The Touch of Genius prize winner receives $10,000.
"Ann Cunningham has dedicated her career to ensuring that people who are blind or visually impaired can experience images and art through touch," said Brian Mac Donald, President & CEO of National Braille Press. "Flip-pics exemplifies the spirit of the Touch of Genius Prize; innovative, practical, and transformative. We are honored to recognize Ann's groundbreaking work and excited to see the lasting impact this technology will have on tactile literacy and accessible education for years to come."
"The Lavelle Fund is so proud to support this annual award, and to recognize these forward-thinking innovators that can make a significant impact for the blind and low vision community." Said Susan Olivo, Executive Director at Lavelle Fund for the Blind.
Cunningham aims to create community, build awareness, and share techniques to make tactile/multi-sensory images available to everyone who wants or needs tactile access with Flip-pics. By expanding access to images and visual concepts, she hopes to empower people who are blind or visually impaired to explore, learn, create, and connect with the world in new and meaningful ways. This commitment is what makes her a fitting recipient of the 2026 Louis Braille Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation.
About National Braille Press
National Braille Press is a non-profit braille publisher and producer of braille products. NBP creates products and programs to support braille and tactile literacy in the blind/visually impaired community and to provide access to information that empower blind/visually impaired people to actively engage in work, family, and community. For more information visit www.nbp.org
Media Contact
Jody Gallinger, Seven Letter, 1 617-646-1026, [email protected]
SOURCE National Braille Press
Share this article