SolarSPELL has been recognized by organizations around the world for our innovative approach to addressing significant social, educational and global issues.
SolarSPELL wins ‘Best in Show’ at SXSW
As the final award of the night approached at the 2025 SXSW Innovation Awards, our team sat in the audience, feeling both honored and humbled just to be among the finalists. Having lost our category earlier that evening, we assumed our moment in the spotlight had passed. So when the announcer called out “SolarSPELL,” we couldn’t believe our ears.
From over 400 applicants, we had been named Best in Show, ahead of world-class organizations and cutting-edge tech startups. This recognition was more than an award—it was a rallying cry. An acknowledgment of the power of libraries, offline internet, and information literacy to empower everyone.
This award is a testament to the incredible work of our partners, student interns, local champions, and supporters, who make it all possible. With this momentum, we are more energized than ever to empower learners across the globe.
Thank you, SXSW, for believing in the power of libraries. Thank you for believing in SolarSPELL
Achievements
We’re also proud to have been selected for the following opportunities and certifications.
2024 UNESCO STEM Conference speaker
SolarSPELL co-founder Laura Hosman was invited to present at the 2024 Continental Conference on Transforming STEM in Africa, organized by UNESCO and the African Union.
Selected for ASU Moonshot Accelerator
SolarSPELL was selected to participate in ASU’s 2nd Moonshot Cohort to enhance our pitch strategy for philanthropic funding opportunities to help us scale.
Official home of Wikipedia for Schools
Since 2015, SolarSPELL has led the curation and provision of Wikipedia for Schools, an offline selection of Wikipedia articles intended for use in schools with limited to no internet access.
2024 Don Norman Design Award finalist
Industrial design intern Brandon Lê was named a finalist for the 2024 Don Norman Design Award for his work on SolarSENSE, our offline, solar-powered soil sensor project.
Powered by Raspberry Pi
In 2023, SolarSPELL became one of 162 products to be granted official ‘Powered by Raspberry Pi’ status.
Selected for ASU AI Innovation Challenge
SolarSPELL has been selected to participate in ASU’s AI Innovation Challenge three semesters running to shape the future of AI-enabled learning, research and work environments using ChatGPT Edu.
Awards
Out of 300 applicants, SolarSPELL was a finalist in the MIT-Solve TPrize 2020 Challenge, an award designed to address social and educational issues in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In 2019 SolarSPELL was selected as a finalist in the Tech4Islands Awards, in the top 6 out of 66 entrants. This program was an initiative of FrenchTech Digital Festival Tahiti.
2021 Feed the Future DLEC
video competition winner
SolarSPELL’s student-produced video showcasing our offline digital agriculture library was selected from hundreds of submissions for the Feed the Future Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC) video competition. The project, funded by USAID, played winning videos at its annual community of practice event to highlight innovative solutions to agriculture extension challenges.
