Blind entrepreneur Brandon Hulcoop wins Pride of Britain award
Blind entrepreneur Brandon Hulcoop has won a Pride of Britain award for All Things Dotty, his braille transcription and tactile products business supported by the King's Trust.
The Full Story
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Blind entrepreneur Brandon Hulcoop has won a Pride of Britain award for All Things Dotty, the accessible media and braille business he founded with support from the King's Trust.
Hulcoop received the King's Trust Young Achiever Award at the Pride of Britain ceremony. At the event, he was praised for his hard work, determination and refusal to give up. The presenter said his journey had been full of challenges and that he was an inspiration to young people facing their own difficulties. Hulcoop said receiving the award felt surreal and that he had kept thinking he was dreaming. He said it was an honour to be part of the King's Trust's 50th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of Pride of Britain.
Before starting the business, Hulcoop, who is blind, was unemployed for 16 months and applied for more than 1,000 jobs. With help from the King's Trust, he formed All Things Dotty. The company is primarily a transcription service. It provides braille, large print and audio in accessible formats, from letters to books and music scores. It also makes tactile greetings cards that can be personalised on its website, picture books that visually impaired people can explore and sighted children can colour in, and board games including Braille Uno, Braille Cluedo and Braille Monopoly. Hulcoop said the company is working on more products.
Hulcoop also met the King at Battersea Power Station. He said the King came to congratulate him in person on winning the Pride of Britain award, which was unexpected. Hulcoop had met the King once before last year when he won the King's Trust Enterprise Award. This time, he said, the King asked about the business, how it was going, whether it had employees and what it was doing for the community. The King ended the conversation by saying congratulations and well done. Hulcoop said he could tell the King was genuinely interested in the business and his work.
Hulcoop stressed why accessible products matter. He said independence is a basic human right and gives people the power to live life to the full. Reading a menu and ordering food without help can be empowering, he said, while relying on someone else can feel demeaning. He asked people to put themselves in a visually impaired person's shoes, describing the panic of being offered no braille menu in a restaurant.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| Brandon Hulcoop received a Pride of Britain award. | |
| Brandon Hulcoop was unemployed for 16 months and applied for more than 1,000 jobs. | |
| With support from the King's Trust, Brandon Hulcoop set up All Things Dotty, which makes braille menus, greetings cards and board games. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The channel gave the story a warm, interview-led treatment. It focused on Hulcoop's personal journey from long-term unemployment to running All Things Dotty, with detailed examples of braille products and a strong independence message. It also covered his meeting with the King and the award ceremony.
- “Brandon Hulcoop is a Pride of Britain winner.”
- “It's a basic human right. It just gives you that power to live your life to the full.”
- “All Things Dotty is primarily a transcription service.”
Who was on air
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- 17:47 BST
Brandon Hulcoop, Pride of Britain winner
5 News with Dan Walker · Tue 20 Oct
Broadcast Timeline
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