The Berkeley seventh grader traveled to Los Angeles this weekend as the only California competitor at the National Braille Challenge Finals — and won first place in the Charts and Graphs category.

Kai Wang, the Berkeley seventh grader who competed this weekend as the only California finalist at the National Braille Challenge in Los Angeles, came home with a first-place finish. The 13-year-old, who attends Longview Middle School in Berkeley, won the Charts and Graphs category — one event in a competition that tests contestants' ability to read, comprehend, and write braille.

Wang was among 50 finalists nationwide, drawn from a field of thousands of braille-reading students who compete in regional rounds each year before advancing to the national event.

"I think braille is important because it's literacy," Wang told NBC Bay Area's Garvin Thomas after the competition. "It helps people learn not only reading and writing — but all other subjects. Math, science, even music. And I think it's also very important to meet other people who value braille literacy as much as I do in this event."

His parents say he is the first braille-only student enrolled in Berkeley public schools in decades.

The Dissent reported on Wang's journey to the finals before the competition. The result is in.