- Winners to be honored at the Nashville Children’s Theatre - 

NASHVILLE, TN – May 8, 2008 – Nashville Public Television is proud to announce the local winners of the 14th Annual Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Contest. Each year, NPT extends a challenge to children throughout Middle Tennessee to demonstrate their writing talents and creativity through words and pictures by producing original story books. Since the contest launched in January, NPT’s Education Department received hundreds of submissions from children across the viewing area -- from kindergarten to third grade -- to write and illustrate their own stories and enter them into the contest.  First and Second Place Winners, Best Illustrators and Honorable Mentions will be awarded at a ceremony at the Nashville Children’s Theatre on Saturday, May 10, at 1:00 p.m. followed by a performance of the play THE RELUCTANT DRAGON.

First Place:
Kindergarten - Kadence Williamson, LaVergne, “The Otters Who Fell in Love”
First Grade - Madelynn Drummond, Elkton, KY, “Peenots Lost Teddy”
Second Grade - Kieran Morris, Thompsons Station, “Tractorman Saves the Savannah;”
Third Grade - Andrew Franklin, Mt. Juliet, “High Tech Santa”

Second Place:  
Kindergarten - Claudia Grove, Nashville, “Piglets Go For a Walk”
First Grade - Michael Rojas, Thompsons Station, “The Lightbulb Rescuers”
Second Grade - Ethan Bagwell, Nashville, “Basketball!”
Third Grade - Melody Williamson, LaVergne, “The Huge Mess: A Cordilia Clean Cup Adventure”

(Please click here for a complete list of winners)

NPT selected a panel of judges to review the submissions, which were judged on originality, creative expression, storytelling and integration of copy and illustrations.  All first and second place winners, along with best illustration winners, receive gift certificates from Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Cool Springs. All winners are invited to attend the special Reading Rainbow celebration at the Nashville Children’s Theatre on Saturday, May 10, 2008. A list of winning authors and their stories are posted at NPT’s website at www.wnpt.net. NPT will also broadcast shorts throughout the daytime program schedule in which first and second place winners read their stories.

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Nashville Public Television is available free and over the air to nearly 2.2 million people throughout the Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky viewing area, and is watched by more than 450,000 households every week. NPT provides, through the power of traditional television and interactive telecommunications, high quality educational, cultural and civic experiences that address issues and concerns of the people of the Nashville region, and which thereby help improve the lives of those we serve.