Young Nebraska writers will receive Letters about Literature award
certificates from
Gov. Dave Heineman on April 10,
2013 at a proclamation-signing ceremony celebrating National Library
Week, April 14-20, 2013. Letters about Literature is a national
reading and writing promotion program. The competition encourages
young people to read, be inspired, and write back to the author 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
- Young-Joon Park, Elkhorn, for a letter to Arthur Miller for
Death of a Salesman
- Shannon Chinn, Omaha, for a letter to Ray Bradbury for
Fahrenheit 451
- Sydney Miller, Lincoln, for a letter to Sharon Draper for
Out of My Mind
Alternate Winners
- Allie Thompson, Omaha, for a letter to Kathryn Stockett for
The Help
- Cole Shank, Lincoln, for a letter to Kathleen Benner Duble for
Phantoms in the Snow
- William Conrad, Lincoln, for a letter to Charles Dickens for
David Copperfield
The students wrote personal letters to the 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, 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.
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 Nebraska’s 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.”
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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.