PBS KIDS GO!® Writers Contest Names Twelve National Winners

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Twelve children have been selected as winners of the national PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest, an initiative designed to promote the advancement of reading skills by encouraging children to develop original stories and illustrations.  The winning entries (first, second and third place from grades K-3)  for the national-local Contest were chosen from over 25,000 submissions from across the country by a panel of America's foremost children's authors, illustrators and content experts including Ann M. Martin, author of The Baby-sitters Club® series; R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps® series; Marc Brown, creator of Arthur; Tony DiTerlizzi, creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles; and Lisa Henson, CEO of The Jim Henson Company, among others.  A complete list of the honorary judges can be viewed here.

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"Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all of the children who sent their stories to PBS stations across the country," said Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, Children's Media, PBS.  "The thousands of incredible entries we received during the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest demonstrate the impact of PBS' ongoing commitment to opening up worlds of words for all young children, encouraging them to explore ways to communicate more effectively and increase their odds of success."

The winning stories can be found on the Contest website, located on ReadyToLearnReading.org, along with audio recordings of beloved PBS KIDS GO! characters from MARTHA SPEAKS, WORD GIRL, and THE ELECTRIC COMPANY reading the winning entries aloud.  The website also features interactive writing activities as well as a special message from singer-songwriter and American Idol winner Jordin Sparks about the influence of writing in her life.

The national winners include:

Kindergarten

1st - Best Friends in Space, by Brooks Daniel/WHUT – Howard University, Washington, DC

2nd - Betsy's Blue Feet, by Briar Ainscough/New Hampshire Public TV

3rd - The Ladybug Doesn't Find Her Spots, by Farah Isabella Novoa/KCTS, Seattle, WA

First Grade

1st - Naughty Gnomes, by Meriah Nicole Fearon/WTVP 47, Peoria, IL

2nd - How to Get Rid of the Shy Bugs, by Andre F. Gomes Lopez/WXEL - West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, FL

3rd - My Next-Door Neighbors, by Evan Kerr/HoustonPBS, TX

Second Grade

1st - The Forgotten Shadows, by Michaela Stell/WHUT – Howard University, Washington, DC

2nd - My Angel Wings, by Filumena Muro/Milwaukee Public Television

3rd - The Cat Who Went to Israel by Mistake, by Jordan Sara Barbour/Vermont Public Television

Third Grade

1st - The Secret Ingredient, by Tatiana Ortiz/KEDT, Corpus Cristi, TX

2nd - DESK: A Totally True Tale of Terror, by Ethan Hansen/Milwaukee Public Television

3rd - The Adventures of Sniffy, Pete and Drono, by Quinn Kribell/South Dakota Public Broadcasting

"We are proud that through our partnership with PBS KIDS GO! and PBS stations around the country, we are able to celebrate the success of  all of the Contest winners and participants as they explore the importance of literacy and creativity," said WNED President and CEO Donald K. Boswell.

The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest is a part of PBS KIDS Raising Readers, a national initiative which uses the power of public media to build the reading skills of children ages two to eight, with an emphasis on children from low-income families.  The effort is funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, part of a cooperative agreement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), PBS and The Ready To Learn Partnership. 

About PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS GO!

PBS KIDS offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, online and community-based programs. PBS is a nonprofit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's nearly 360 public television stations. For more information visit PBS.org/pressroom.

About WNED

WNED is the founder and national co-producer of the Reading Rainbow series which garnered a total of 26 Emmy Awards, ten of which were for "Outstanding Children's Series."  WNED was the producer of the popular Mark Russell Comedy Specials for PBS and is a producer of major documentaries for PBS national distribution.  A series of WNED documentaries (Your Life Your Money, Window to the Sea, Niagara Falls, Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo, The Marines, The Adirondacks, Fort Niagara: The Struggle for a Continent, Elbert Hubbard: An American Original) have been broadcast nationally on PBS since 2005.  WNED is currently producing several documentaries slated for national PBS broadcast in the coming years including the War of 1812 and a special on the Chautauqua Institution.

About CPB

CPB, a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1000 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television, and related on-line services.

The contents of this release were developed under a grant, #PRU295B050003, from the U.S. Department of Education.  However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

SOURCE PBS