Letters About Literature
We are pleased to announce the 2011 Minnesota Letters About Literature winners!
Thank you to all educators and students who participated in this writing contest.
First place Letters About Literature winners, Solomon Polansky, Nicholas Behrens, and Tyler Sturos, at the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English spring conference in Brainerd on April 16, 2011.
Level I (Grades 4-6)
First Place: Nicholas Behrens, Grade 6, Falcon Heights, Parkview Center School *National Honor
Winner*
Second Place: Anna Fix, Grade 6, Maple Grove, Rush Creek Elementary
Third Place: Jack Bergstrom, Grade 6, Maple Grove, Rush Creek Elementary
Level II (Grades 7-8)
First Place: Solomon Polansky, Grade 8, Minnetonka, The Blake School *National Honor Winner*
Second Place: Aaron Schmidt, Grade 7, Vadnais Heights, Central Middle School
Third Place: Elizabeth Thomas, Grade 8, Excelsior, Minnetonka Middle School West
Level III (Grade 9-12)
First Place: Tyler Sturos, Grade 12, Saint Michael, St. Michael-Albertville High School
Second Place: Sadie Rai Anderson, Grade 11, Chisholm, East Range Academy of Technology & Science
Third Place: Emily Mitchell, Grade 11, Big Lake, Big Lake High School
More than 69,000 adolescent and young adult readers nationwide in grades 4 through 12 participated in this year’s Letters About Literature program, which encourages young people to read, be inspired and write back to the author who has somehow changed their view of the world or themselves. The number of entries from Minnesota’s students was nearly 2,000.
Minnesota’s first place winners were honored at the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English annual spring conference in Brainerd on April 16, 2011 where each received a $50 Target gift card and $50 gift card to Common Good Books in St. Paul. National winners will be announced by the end of April. Second and third place winners also will each receive a gift card to Common Good Books in St. Paul.
Two of Minnesota's first place winners have been selected as national honor winners. Nicholas Behrens of Falcon Heights and Solomon Polansky of Minnetonka each received an additional gift card and a $1,000 reading promotion grant for their school libraries. This is the fourth year in a row that Minnesota has had a national winner. Each year 18 national winners are selected.
Sponsored nationally by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in partnership with Target, the contest asks readers to write a letter to an author describing how his or her work touched their life in a personal way. Authors can be of any genre or time period and can come from any country.
The contest focuses on reader response and reflective writing and has three competition levels: Level 1 for students in grades 4-6; Level 2 for students in grades 7 and 8; and Level 3 for students in grades 9-12. State level judges will choose the top essayists from each of the three competition levels who will receive a $50 Target GiftCard and advance to the National Level Judging. Prizes will also be awarded to the 2nd and 3rd place winners.
On each competition level, a panel of national judges for the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress will select six (6) National Winners (2 per Level of Competition) and twelve (12) National Honorable Mention Winners (4 per Level of Competition). The National Winners will receive a $500 Target GiftCard, plus each will secure a $10,000 LAL Reading Promotion Grant in their name for his or her community or school library so that others can experience personal relationships with authors and the stories they tell. The National Honorable Mention Winners will each receive a $100 Target GiftCard, plus each will secure a $1,000 LAL Reading Promotion Grant in their name for his or her community or school library.
Entries in each state are assessed on three criteria: content, or the writer’s achievement in addressing the contest theme; exposition, or the writer’s use of language skills; and voice, the writer’s style and originality of expression.
For additional information about the contest and to access free teaching materials, blackline masters, writing samples, and assessment checklists, please visit
www.lettersaboutliterature.org.
For more information about Minnesota's participation in this contest, contact Eden Bart, Program Specialist,
eden@mnhum.org, 651-772-4261 or toll free 866-268-7293, ext. 261.
2010 Letters About Literature State Winners. (Click on the links to view a PDF of each letter.)
Level I (grades 4-6)
Level II (grades 7-8)
Level III (grades 9-12)
Third Place: Lee Xiong, Grade 12, Champlin