827 Young Authors Entered Writing Contest
By Laurie Evans
Eight years ago when Lexington Family held its first writing contest, 125 young authors wrote to tell us about a dream they had for their lives.
As the contest became an established event that teachers looked for as a challenge for their students each year, the number of entries kept doubling.
And this spring, for our 8th Annual Writing Contest, we asked kids in grades K-5 from all over the Bluegrass to write an essay of 100 words or less on the theme “Imagine If I Were an Animal…”
Central Kentucky kids responded in a big way! We had entries from 827 writers, 200 more than last year.
Many of the essays came from the 34 teachers from 21 different schools who asked their entire classes to enter.
Plus, we had individual entries from dozens of kids, including homeschoolers from across the state.
Our sponsors helped inspire these kids, offering cool prizes, including McKenna (the newest American Girl doll), model horses from Breyerfest, and dozens of games from Hasbro.
The entries showcased the imaginations of our young authors.
Can you guess what the most popular animal was with our writers?
We had two favorites – puppies who like to snuggle with their owners, and cheetahs, because they are fast.
We also had children who imagined they were horses running in the Derby, eagles soaring through the sky, monkeys who did not have to clean their rooms or do homework, and dolphins who swim in the sea.
One little girl wanted to be the harp seal that had been adopted by pop singer Taylor Swift.
One boy wrote that he wanted to be a gorilla because he didn’t want to give up having thumbs.
One of my personal favorites was a young man who wanted to be a “kind and generous” anaconda.
It was very difficult to choose just a handful of winners, but after much consideration our panel of judges was able to narrow the entries down to six Grand Prize winners and 12 who were awarded Honorable Mention.
Winners were announced at Summer Camp & Activities Fair on April 14.
Look for all the details on next year’s contest. Essays will be due at the end of March 2013.
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Grand Prize Winners
K-1st grade: (Girls) Jordan Frye, Mary Queen; (Boys) Jack Ayoob, Rosa Parks
2nd-3rd grade: (Girls) Hannah Long, Meadowthorpe; Jackson Gonzalez, Liberty
4th-5th grade: (Girls) Jordan Gal, Mary Queen; Trevor Prather, Picadome