Students can revisit their most powerful literary experiences through a contest that asks them to write a personal letter to an author and explain how his or her work changed their perspective on the world.
The national Letters About Literature competition is open to students in grades 4 through 12, and submissions are being accepted until December 10, 2010. The annual competition is sponsored by the South Carolina State Library's Center for the Book and the South Carolina State Library Foundation in partnership with Target and the Library of Congress Center for the Book.
To enter, readers write a letter to an author, past or present, describing how that author's work made an impact on their life. Contestants are cautioned not to summarize the book's plot, but to express in an honest, conversational tone, how the book affected them.
The contest, which focuses on reader response and reflective writing, 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 winners' letters will also be judged to determine national winners and national honors winners. National winners will receive a $10,000 Letters About Literature Reading Promotion Grant for their library and national honors winners will receive a $1,000 Letters About Literature Reading Promotion Grant for their library.
To download the official entry guidelines, visit http://lettersaboutliterature.org. You can also listen to SCETV Radio's podcast of Doug Keel's Speaking of Schools to hear an interview about the contest. (Interview begins at the 6:20 mark)
