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College of Education News
K-5 Young Authors Honored at Youth Literature Festival Writing Contest Reception
May 11, 2009
Posterboards throughout the Alumni Center lounge displayed the winning entries.
More than 350 family and friends attended the event in support of their young authors.
Narratives, poetry, and illustrations comprised the student entries.
Storyteller Dan Keding roused laughter from the crowd as he retold story legends and played musical spoons before dramatizing the winning entries.
For local television coverage of the event, see WCIA Channel 3 and WCID Channel 15.
More than 405 children from seven counties and three states put pen to paper for the first-ever Youth Literature Festival writing contest. From tales of river dolphins and bubble gum to flashlights and bacon pants, the young authors crafted illustrations, folktales, poetry, and short stories for the competition.
The K-5 entrants and their families celebrated May 3, at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, 1:00-2:30 p.m. First, second, and third place winners were chosen from each grade level. Those winners received books and cash prizes. Local student group, Mo Better Music, provided entertainment and storyteller Dan Keding dramatized excerpts from the winning entries.
“This contest continues the work begun with the Youth Literature Festival in October,” said Violet Harris, Associate Dean at the College of Education. “It encourages creativity and allows children, their siblings, their friends and teachers to work on an area of personal creative expression.”
Not only does the contest extend the excitement of the Youth Literature Festival, which served more than 2,000 in Champaign-Urbana, it also underscores the College of Education’s dedication to bridge college and community.
Co-sponsored by the College of Education, WILL, and the University Library, the writing contest for youth in kindergarten through fifth grade is slated to become an annual event. Organizers say the success of the contest resulted from the cooperation and participation of College of Education faculty, staff, and students, WILL personnel, University Library staff, school personnel in seven counties, volunteers from the community and campus, and children and their families. Women’s basketball coach Jolette Law served as the contest’s spokesperson.
Winners are:
| K | Brooke Waider Ella Curry Adara Meyen |
| 1st | Zevi Bloomfield Nicholas Liagridonis Branson Ravanh |
| 2nd | Dana Chiueh Uma Basole Alyanna Marie Posadas |
| 3rd | Grace Park Noah Lewallen Furkan Kose |
| 4th | Emily Gibson Cecilia Wilson Ellen Loucks |
| 5th | Cameron Rexroad Andrew Piester Haley Watts |