Young Nebraskans Win Writing Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1, 2015 FOR MORE INFORMATION: Mary Jo Ryan 402-471-3434 800-307-2665 Young Nebraskans Win Writing Competition Young Nebraska writers will receive Letters about Literature award certificates from Gov. Pete Ricketts on April 8, 2015 at a proclamation-signing ceremony celebrating National Library Week, April 12-18, 2015. Letters about Literature is a national reading and writing promotion program. Nearly 50,000 adolescent and young readers nationwide in grades four through twelve participated in this year’s Letters about Literature program, hundreds of them from Nebraska. The competition encourages young people to read, be inspired, and write back to the author (living or dead) who had an impact on their lives. This annual contest is sponsored nationally by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. 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

• Emma Harner, Lincoln, for a letter to Karen Hesse
• Owen Morrow, Omaha, for a letter to Mike Lupica
• Ashley Xiques, Omaha, for a letter to Leigh Bardugo

 Alternate Winners  

• Grace Gutierrez, Omaha, for a letter to Deborah Wiles
• Clio Reid, Lincoln, for a letter to Lewis Carroll
• Morgan Curran, Arapahoe, for a letter to Beatrice Sparks

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 and receive cash prizes and gift certificates. 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. The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the Nebraska Library Commission. As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, bringing together people and information. ### The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library Commission are always available on the Library Commission Website, http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.