COLUMBIA, SC - The South Carolina Center for the Book has recognized nine students from across the state as winners of the 2008 South Carolina Letters About Literature writing contest. Judges selected Lindsay Pollard, a fifth-grade student at Clemson Elementary School...
COLUMBIA, SC - The South Carolina Center for the Book has recognized nine students from across the state as winners of the 2008 South Carolina Letters About Literature writing contest. Judges selected Lindsay Pollard, a fifth-grade student at Clemson Elementary School, as first place winner in Level I competition for children in grades 4-6 for her letter to Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, author of How I Came to be a Writer. Taking second place was Will Anderson, a fifth-grader student at North Elementary School in Lancaster, for his letter to Will James, author of Smoky the Cowhorse. Alysa Chirillo, a sixth-grader at West Oak Middle School in Westminster, placed third for her letter to author Susan Pfeffer about the book Life As We Knew It.
The first place winner for level II (grades 7-8) was Sinead Rose-Innes of Riverside Middle School in Greer for her letter to Laurie Halse Anderson for Speak. Placing second was D.J. Lee of Dent Middle School in Columbia for a letter to Orson Scott Card, author of Speaker for the Dead. Third place went to Kiana Knowlin of Rosemary Middle School in Andrews for her letter to Elizabeth Weitzman, author of Let’s Talk About When a Parent Dies.
The first place winner for Level III (grades 9-12) was Rhett Ricard of Mid-Carolina High School in Prosperity, who wrote to Pat Conroy about My Losing Season. Taking second place was Katherine McCollough from the Academy for the Arts, Science & Technology in Myrtle Beach for her letter to author Stephen Chbosky about his book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Third place went to Danielle Lester from Mid-Carolina High for her letter to Elie Weisel, author of Night.
The letters by first-place winners Pollard, Rose-Innes and Ricard now advance to national competition. An awards ceremony will be held to recognize the nine statewide winners, their teachers, friends and family members on May 5 at the South Carolina State Library, 1430 Senate Street in Columbia.
Approximately 56,000 young readers across the country participated in this year’s competition, a reading promotion program of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, presented in partnership with Target. Additional state funders include the South Carolina State Library Foundation.
To enter, young readers write a personal letter to an author explaining how his or her work changed their view of the world or themselves. Readers can select authors from any genre – fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic. The program has three competition levels: upper elementary, middle school and secondary. It encourages a young reader to explore his or her personal response to a book, then express that response in a creative, original way.
In South Carolina, 969 students competed across all three levels of competition. South Carolina finalists each receive a cash prize from the South Carolina State Library Foundation plus a $50 Target gift card.