ALABAMA STUDENT WINS PBS KIDS GO! WRITERS CONTEST

Winners selected by a prestigious judging panel including Grammy Award nominated singer-songwriter Jewel; acclaimed children’s author and illustrator Mo Willems; and two-time Children’s Book Award author and illustrator, Jarrett Krosoczka

September 4, 2012 – Cheryl Kaye Marshall of Birmingham is one of twelve children who have been selected as winners of the national PBS KIDS GO! 2012 Writers Contest, an initiative designed to promote the advancement of children’s reading skills through hands-on, active learning. The winning entries (first, second and third place from grades K-3) for the contest were chosen from thousands of submissions from participating PBS stations across the country including Alabama Public Television.

“We are proud of the accomplishments of these talented young writers and illustrators, and offer our thanks to all of the children that participated in this year’s PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest,” said Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, Children’s Media, PBS. “This annual event is one of the ways that PBS KIDS and our local stations help build children’s creativity and improve literacy skills in a fun and engaging way.”

The national Contest winners will be awarded prizes, including tablets, e-readers and MP3 players for their outstanding stories. As in years past, winning entries in each of the Contest categories will be featured on the site, PBSKIDS.org/writerscontest, and visitors to the Contest site will continue to have the opportunity to create “Story Mashups” with winning stories.

The 2012 national winners include:

Kindergarten
1st - The Elephant Ballerina, by Hannah Grace Hammontree, Cohutta, GA – WTCI
2nd - Abby the Talking Giraffe, by Ella Black, North Huntington, PA –WQED
3rd - Fury the Cat Has a Birthday Party, by Alex Beeman, Platte City, MO – KCPT

First Grade
1st - Jim’s Crazy Bus Week, by Edward Krzemienski, Muncie, IN – WIPB
2nd - Clark the Circus Pig, by Rain Vassey, Lincoln, DE – Independent entry
3rd – Tacky Turkey’s BIG Adventure!, by Ehren Collins, Lakewood, OH – WVIZ

Second Grade
1st – Aly’s Great Adventures, by Cheryl Kaye Marshall, Birmingham, AL – APT
2nd – Guinea Pigs Don’t Go to School, by Ella Walker, Watertown, WI – WPNE
3rd – How Jordan the Giraffe Learned to Love, by Finn LeSieur, Newport Beach, CA – PBS SoCal

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Third Grade
1st – Scribbles For Fame, by Nikolai Ortiz, Corpus Christie, TX – KEDT
2nd – The Mystery of the Attic Intruder, by Daniel Trimble, Pittsburgh, PA – WQED
3rd – The Lake, by Elliott Feldman, Sturgeon Bay, WI – WPNE

“Cheryl’s book, Aly’s Great Adventures, really stood out for the Alabama judges too,” said Mike McKenzie, who has been coordinating Alabama’s portion of the writing contest since it began in 1993. “She put incredible work into building a pop-up book and her story was terrific. Our judges, who included popular Birmingham children’s author Charles Ghigna, thought she had a good chance to win a national award.”

Many thousands of Alabama students in grades K-3 have written stories for the contest since 1993, when it began as the “Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Contest,” and several have become national winners.

PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest Judges
A diverse panel of prestigious judges, including leading children’s authors, illustrators, producers and content experts, served as the final judges in this year’s Contest. This year’s judges include:

  • Tony DiTerlizzi - New York Times best-selling co-creator and illustrator of middle-grade series The Spiderwick Chronicles, which has sold millions of copies, been adapted into a feature film, and has been translated in over 30 countries. He has also created fanciful picture books such as Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-this-World Moon Pie Adventure, the Adventure of Meno series (with his wife, Angela) and Caldecott Honor book, The Spider & The Fly.
  • Lisa Henson - Chief Executive Officer of The Jim Henson Company, Henson serves as an executive producer of Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train, both currently airing daily on PBS KIDS, and Pajanimals, a musical puppet series airing daily on Sprout.
  • Jewel – Three-time Grammy Award nominated singer, songwriter and author, who recently released her second children’s album, The Merry Goes ‘Round, and will release a children’s book this September titled That’s What I’d Do.
  • Kate Klimo – As Vice President and Publisher of the Random House/Golden Books Group, she has been responsible for extending the Seuss brand into new formats including board and novelty books, and publishing non-fiction celebrations of Dr. Seuss’s life and works. Klimo has nearly 30 years of experience at Random House; more than 15 of them spent working on All Things Seuss. She is also the production executive of The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!
  • Jarrett Krosoczka – Two-time winner of the Third to Fourth Grade Book of the Year in the Children’s Choice Book Awards, author and illustrator for sixteen published books – ten picture books and six graphic novels. He has seen his work recommended by national publications like Newsweek, The New York Times and USA Today. His Punk Farm and Lunch Lady series are also in development to be feature films.

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  • Susan Meddaugh – Author and illustrator of Martha Speaks, the best-selling book series, as well as a creative producer of the award-winning PBS KIDS series of the same name.
  • Ozomatli – Grammy award-winning band, celebrated Los Angeles culture-mashers and U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassadors.
  • Mo Willems – Recipient of 3 Caldecott Honors, 2 Geisel Medals, 2 Carnegie Medals, 6 Emmys and a Geisel Honor. Having worked in children’s books, animation, television, theater, and bubble gum card painting, his most recent book is Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator, a portrait of the relationship between a girl and her stuffed alligator told in 6-1/2 stories. Recent and upcoming non-bubble gum card projects include the New York Times bestseller Duckling Gets a Cookie!? and a new Elephant and Piggie book, Listen to My Trumpet!
  • The Weepies – Deb Talan and Steve Tannen began writing together the night they first met and soon formed The Weepies. The Indie duo has sold more than a million singles and half a million albums. Their simple and direct songwriting has sent them to the top of the folk charts in a dozen countries.

About Alabama Public Television

Alabama Public Television, America’s first statewide public television network, is a seven-day-a-week educational resource for every Alabamian – children and adults alike – through online services, digital television programming, documentary production and outreach activities. It is affiliated with the Public Broadcasting System.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mike McKenzie

205-451-0123

800-239-5233, ext. 123

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