2014 State Winners Announced in Annual Student Writing Contest



Eleven Minnesota students in grades 4 through 12 are honored for outstanding writing in national Letters About Literature essay contest.

SAINT PAUL, May 12, 2014 – The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, as the home of the Minnesota Center for the Book, is pleased to announce the state-level winners of the 2014 annual national Letters About Literature Essay Contest, co-sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English and Common Good Books.

Center for the Book

Some 50,000 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. Minnesota’s students entered 1,113 letters in the competition, and of those, 119 letters made it through to the state-level round of judging. For more information about the contest, national winners, and free teaching resources to guide students through the reader response and writing process, visit www.read.gov/letters/.

The winners of the Letters About Literature essay competition were selected on three levels: Level I for grades four through six, Level II for grades seven and eight, and Level III for grades nine through twelve.

The winners are:

Level I

First place:
Nathan Behrens (Grade 6: Parkview Center School, Roseville)
Letter to Barbara Joosse, author of I Love You the Purplest

Second Place:
Alemu Slattery (Grade 5: Great River School, St. Paul)
Letter to Gary Paulsen, author of Tucket’s Travels

Third Place (tie):
Lauren Phillips (Grade 6: Chapel Hill Academy, Chanhassen)
Letter to Jenny L. Cote, author of The Ark, The Reed, and the Fire Cloud;
and
Noelle Wang (Grade 5: Friendly Hills Middle School, Mendota Heights)
Letter to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat

Level II

First Place:
Noah Visness (Grade 7: ESCHEL Home School Cooperative, St. Paul)
Letter to Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Men

Second Place (tie):
Caroline Bowen (Grade 8: Our Lady of Grace, Edina)
Letter to Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief;
and
Sarah Chute (Grade 8: The Blake School – Middle School, Hopkins)
Letter to John Green, author of  The Fault in Our Stars

Third Place:
Riley Wentink (Grade 8: Chaska Middle School West)
Letter to George Orwell, author of 1984

Level III

First Place:
Larissa Bohler (Grade 11: St. Michael-Albertville High School, St. Michael)
Letter to Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why

Second Place:
Meckenna Woetzel (Grade 12: Blaine High School, Blaine)
Letter to Elie Weisel, author of Night

Third Place:
Meghana Iyer (Grade 9: Valley View Middle School, Edina)
Letter to Sherman Alexie, author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Click here to read the winning essays.

For more information, contact
 Alayne Hopkins, Director of Programs and Minnesota Book Awards
The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library
651-366-6488
[email protected] Common Good Books

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