Louisiana Winners in 2010-11 Letters About Literature Writing Competition

Thursday, 07 April 2011 14:21
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Louisiana Winners in 2010-11 Letters About Literature Writing Competition
Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is announcing the state winners of this year’s Library of Congress Letters About Literature competition, sponsored by the Louisiana Center for the Book in State Library of Louisiana in partnership with the Louisiana Writing Project.

The first place winners: Allison Walters of Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, Michel Elliot of Immaculate Conception Cathedral School in Lake Charles and Dillon Hutson of Destrehan High School each qualify for the national competition, with those winners to be announced in April.

Louisiana’s finalists were chosen out of more than 1,000 entries submitted to the Letters About Literature Center for the Book national headquarters. A panel of judges which included teachers and librarians from all over the state selected the winning entries in each age group.

“Letters About Literature is a unique program that allows our young readers to truly consider the meaning of the work as it relates to their own lives,” Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne said. “In doing so, it adds another level of involvement which improves Louisiana’s culture of literacy.”

To enter, students wrote a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre explaining how that author's work changed their way of thinking about themselves or the world and how the chosen books impacted their life or worldview.

Michel Elliot, the youngest first-place winner wrote in his letter to Dr. Seuss, “Books take me out of myself and into adventures that I would never think of on my own. I don’t look for hidden meanings, or drama or answers to mysteries of the universe. I read for fun….books, like life, should be fun.”

The following are the Letters About Literature Louisiana winners:

Level I (Grades 4-6)
1st Place:     Allison Walters, Ursuline Academy, New Orleans
Teacher: Katie Martin

2nd Place:    Imogen Hoffman, Ursuline Academy, New Orleans
Teacher: Katie Martin

3rd Place:     Regan Appleton, Runnels School, Baton Rouge
Teacher: Marsha Curry

Level II (Grades 7-8)

1st Place:    Michel Elliot, Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, Lake Charles
Teacher: Paula McLean

2nd Place:      Emma Brouphy, Mt. Carmel Academy, New Orleans
Teacher: Kristen Hode

3rd Place:    Justice Cressley, Belle Chasse Academ
Teacher: Stephanie Andrews

Honorable Mention:    Tori Elizabeth King, Alexandria Middle Magnet School
Teacher: Renae Broussard

Level III (Grades 9-12)
1st Place:     Dillion Hutson, Destrehan High School
Teacher: Lynn Thompson

2nd Place:    Monika Daniels, Bolton High School, Alexandria
Teacher: Nancy Monroe

3rd Place:    Margaret Parsons, St. Scholastica Academy, Covington
Teacher: Elizabeth Tocco

Honorable Mention:     Abraham Younes, Bolton High School, Alexandria
Teacher: Nancy Monroe

Read the Letters

LAL 2010-11 State First Place Winners Letters
LAL 2010-11 State Second Place Winners Letters
LAL 2010-11 State Third Place Winners Letters
LAL 2010-11 State Honorable Mention Letters

– www.crt.la.gov –

 


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 21, 2011

Contact:

Paulita Chartier
State Library of Louisiana
225.342.9713   
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Jacques Berry
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225.342.8607
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