FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 12, 2016
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Mary Jo Ryan
402-471-3434
800-307-2665
Young Readers Invited to Write to Favorite Authors
Young readers in grades 4-12 are invited to write a personal letter
to an author for the Letters about Literature (LAL) contest, a
national reading and writing promotion program. The letter can be to
any author (living or dead) from any genre—fiction or nonfiction,
contemporary or classic—explaining how that author’s work changed
the student’s view of the world. The 24th annual writing
contest for young readers is made possible by a generous grant from
the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, with additional support from
gifts to the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which
promotes the contest through its affiliate Centers for the Book,
state libraries and other organizations. This reading and writing
promotion is sponsored in Nebraska by the Nebraska Center for the
Book and Nebraska Library Commission, and supported by Houchen
Bindery Ltd. and Chapters Books in Seward.
Prizes will be awarded on both the state and national levels. The
Nebraska Center for the Book’s panel of judges will select the top
letter writers in the state, to be honored in a proclamation-signing
ceremony at the state capitol during National Library Week in April
2017. Their winning letters will be placed in the Jane Pope Geske
Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors at Bennett Martin Public Library
in Lincoln. Nebraska winners will receive state prizes, and then
advance to the national judging.
A panel of national judges for the Center for the Book in the
Library of Congress will select one National Winner per competition
level (Level I for grades 4-6, Level II for grades 7-8, and Level
III for grades 9-12) to receive a $1,000 cash award, to be announced
in May 2017. The judges will also select one National Honor winner
on each competition level to receive a $200 cash award.
Teachers, librarians, and parents can download free teaching
materials on reader response and reflective writing, along with
contest details and entry forms, at
www.read.gov/letters.
Nebraska-specific information (including lists of Nebraska winners
of past competitions) is available at
http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/programs/LAL.html. Get
inspired by listening to Nebraska winners, Ashley Xiques and Sydney
Kohl, read and talk about and their winning letters to authors that
meant something to them in their own lives, see NET Radio’s
All About Books (http://netnebraska.org/basic-page/radio/all-about-books).
Submissions from Grades 9-12 must be postmarked by December 2, 2016.
Submissions from Grades 4-8 must be postmarked by January 9, 2017.
For more information contact
Mary Jo Ryan, MaryJo.Ryan@nebraska.com, 402-471-3434 or
800-307-2665.
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
###
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.