Learning + Society
Learning + Society
Designed to break down barriers to adult education and empower adult learners, this prize challenged teams to create mobile apps that could dramatically improve literacy skills within 12 months, using the devices already in people’s hands.
Impact
800% increase in adult literacy tools available worldwide
41 fully functional apps developed and tested
12,000+ adult learners engaged in large-scale field trials
Winner
Learning Upgrade
Their app delivers 1,400+ lessons in literacy and numeracy through songs, video, and games, reaching 3M+ learners in 40+ countries and driving 250K+ learning hours every month.
People ForWords
People ForWords’ Codex app turns literacy into an adventure, engaging adults with an archaeological quest that builds reading skills and confidence through interactive gameplay.
Learning Upgrade
People ForWords
Sponsors
Sponsors fund the prize journey from bold idea to breakthrough—shaping each competition, supporting global teams, and accelerating solutions that scale. Their backing powers impact that lasts well beyond the prize.
Latest News
Partners
Partners play a hands-on role in our prizes—co-designing competitions, supporting operations, and helping scale solutions with their expertise, resources, and global reach.
Barrier
More than 36 million adults in the U.S. alone struggle with basic literacy, impacting employment, health, and family life. Traditional education models are too rigid, inaccessible, or slow to meet their needs, leaving millions locked out of opportunity.
Breakthrough
Solutions would deliver engaging, mobile-first learning apps that adults could use anywhere, anytime. By making literacy education fun, adaptive, and accessible, innovations opened new doors to opportunity and lifelong learning.
About the Prize
The $7M Barbara Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE was a global competition to improve adult literacy by harnessing the power of mobile technology. Recognizing that many adults lacked time, access, or confidence to return to the classroom, the prize challenged teams to build apps that could significantly improve literacy skills in just 12 months—on devices learners already owned.
Solutions had to work across a range of literacy levels, be usable without teacher support, and demonstrate real learning outcomes in large-scale trials with adult learners. The challenge emphasized functionality, engagement, accessibility, and measurable impact.
Two co-winners emerged: Learning Upgrade, offering 1,400+ lessons across 28 courses through songs, games, and rewards, and reaching millions worldwide; and People ForWords, whose game-based app Codex: Lost Words of Atlantis combined archaeological adventure with reading instruction to keep learners motivated.
The prize helped redefine what effective, inclusive adult education can look like—showing that with the right tools, literacy is within reach for anyone, anywhere.
Prize Schedule
The prize launched in 2015 and concluded in 2019. After extensive field testing with thousands of adult learners, Learning Upgrade and People ForWords were named co-winners, and their apps continue to serve millions today.
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