Young Nebraskans Win Writing Competition

Young Nebraska writers will receive Letters about Literature award certificates from Gov. Dave Heineman on April 13, 2011 at a proclamation-signing ceremony celebrating National Library Week, April 10-18, 2011. Letters about Literature is a national reading and writing promotion program. Just under 70,000 adolescent and young adult readers nationwide in grades 4 through 12 participated in this year’s Letters About Literature program—more than 450 of them from Nebraska. The competition encourages young people to read, be inspired and write back to the author who has somehow changed their view of the world or themselves.



This annual contest is sponsored nationally by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in partnership with Target Stores. Target sponsors Letters about Literature as part of its national reading initiative, “Ready. Sit. Read!,” which is aimed at fostering a love of reading among children at an early age. Since opening its first store in 1962, Target has partnered with nonprofit organizations, guests and team members to help meet community needs. The Center for the Book was established in 1977 as a public-private partnership to use the resources of the Library of Congress to stimulate public interest in books and reading.

The Nebraska competition is coordinated and sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Nebraska Library Commission, and Houchen Bindery Ltd. Young Nebraska writers to be honored are:

Winners: • Grace Doll, Lincoln, to Willa Cather about My Ántonia • Megan Brookhouser, Omaha, to Jeannette Walls about The Glass Castle • Arash Hamidi, Omaha, to Gene Luen Yang about American-Born Chinese

Alternate Winners: • Frank Wickizer, Lincoln, to Ernest Hemingway about The Old Man and the Sea • Grace Cai, Omaha, to Philip Pullman about Northern Lights (The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass • Timarree Speer, Mason City, to Beatrice Sparks about Anne’s Baby

The students wrote personal letters to authors explaining how his or her work changed their view of themselves or the world. They selected authors from any genre, fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic. Winners were chosen from three competition levels: upper elementary, middle, and secondary school.

The Nebraska winners will be honored at a luncheon, receive cash prizes and gift certificates to Target Stores, and their winning letters will be placed in the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors at Bennett Martin Public Library in Lincoln. They will advance to the national competition, with a chance to win a trip to Washington, D.C. for themselves and their parents. For more information see http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/programs/LAL.html.