For more information, contact:
Lisa Goss, Communications Specialist, 216-916-6134
May 7, 2015 – (Cleveland, OH) – Topics as diverse as a talking molecule, a friend-making fairy and a pork-loving porcine populated award-winning stories in the 2015 WVIZ/PBS ideastream Education Kids Writers Contest. Each of the winning students, as well as three runners-up in each category, will receive a PBS Kids educational prize package, which includes a Writers Contest tote bag, notebook journal, pen and more.
The first-place winner in each of the categories—kindergarten through third grade—will advance to the national level of the contest. Over 90 creative entries were received from Northeast Ohio students, and the following winners were chosen for each grade:
Kindergarten
1st place: Mary Parobek “Molly the Molecule”
2nd place: Jayne Fullerman “About Babies in Mommy’s Tummy”
3rd place: Luke Slager “Chris Finds a Home”
4th place: Sophie Jovanovich “The Lost Boy”
First grade
1st place: Areesha Nouman “A Fairy Who Meets a Friend”
2nd place: Zoe Wolfe “The Lonely Girl”
3rd place: Sophia Payamgis “The One Special Rabbit”
4th place: Karina Krishnan “Pink Hand”
Second grade
1st place: Delaney Spoonster “Friends Forever”
2nd place: Olivia Wagner “The Book that Came to Life”
3rd place: Grant Johnson “The Great Prank War”
4th place: Mia DiFranco “DaVinci Paints Lisa”
Third grade
1st place: Polly Routh “The Pig Who Loved Bacon”
2nd Place: Analyse Dasher “Sea Turtles with a Problem on Their Flippers”
3rd place: William Northup “A Fish’s Tale”
4th Place Kaitlyn McCandless “Adventures of Ashley and Cody”
The annual PBS KIDS Writers Contest is a national initiative designed to promote the advancement of children’s literacy skills through hands-on, active learning. The contest encourages children in grades K-3 to celebrate creativity by submitting their own original stories and illustrations.
“The process of creative writing has been proven to not only support the building of key academic skills, but to also help improve a child’s self-confidence, creativity and imagination,” said Linda Williams, ideastream Senior Director, Education. “ideastream celebrates all of the talented Northeast Ohio children who entered this year’s contest and wishes the Northeast Ohio winners best of luck in the national competition.”
WVIZ/PBS ideastream’s first place winners will advance to the national contest, and a panel of some of America's foremost children's authors, illustrators, producers and media creators will serve as honorary judges and rank the top 12 finalists.
###
ideastream’s mission is to strengthen our communities.
ideastream pursues its mission as a multiple media public service organization by providing distinctive,
thought-provoking programs and services that enlighten, inspire, educate and entertain.