Contact: Susan Coleman
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
145 Ednam Drive Charlottesville, VA 22903
PH: 434-982-2983 FAX: 434-296-4714
Email: spcoleman@virginia.edu
http://www.virginiafoundation.org/bookcenter
For Immediate Release
September 09, 2008
YOUNG READERS INVITED TO ENTER “LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE” WRITING CONTEST
Free Teachering materials available Six National Winners each will win a $10,000 grant for their school or community library
Six National Winners each will win a $10,000 grant for their school or community library
The Virginia Foundation Center for the Book announces the 2008-09 “Letters About Literature” reading and writing competition. Students in grades 4 through 12 are invited to write a personal letter to the author of a favorite book. The Center will select the top letter writers in the state at each of the three competition levels: Level I for children in grades 4, 5, and 6; Level II for grades 7 and 8, and Level III, grades 9, 10, 11, and12. The three state winners will receive $100 cash, a $50 Target giftcard, and will be invited to appear at the Opening Ceremony of the March 18, 2009 Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville.
Judges for the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress will select six national winners (two per competition level) and 12 national runners-up (four per competition level). National winners will receive a Target GiftCard of $500. In addition, they will win for their school or community library a Reading Promotion Grant of $10,000. National winners will be instrumental in deciding how the library funds will be spent. The 12 national runners-up will win for their school or community library a Reading Promotion Grant of $1,000, and likewise be involved in the awarding of the grant.
Last year, Courtney Harnett of King George County, Virginia received a national Honorable Mention and the L.E. Smoot Library received a $1,000 grant in her honor.
Guidelines and the required entry form are available at virginiafoundation.org/bookcenter. The entry deadline is December 6, 2008. State winners will be announced in March.
Free teaching materials, developed by the Library of Congress’ Center for the Book, are available at lettersaboutliterature.org. “Letters About Literature” meets the standards of the National Council of Teachers of English and supports Virginia standards for teaching language arts and reading.
To enter, students in grades 4-12 write a personal letter to an author, explaining how the author’s work changed the student’s view of the world or themselves. Young readers can select authors from any genre — fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic.
Target Stores, along with its parent company Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), gives back more than $2 million a week to its local communities through grants and special programs. Since opening its first store in 1962, Target has partnered with nonprofit organizations, guests and team members to help meet community needs.
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. For information about its activities and national reading promotion networks, visit www.loc.gov/cfbook.