WNED is pleased to recognize sixteen outstanding young authors for their award-winning stories through the 14th Annual Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Contest. They were chosen from among more than 500 local entrants.

The Contest encourages very young students to use their imaginations and apply their writing and artistic talents by creating original storybooks. This year’s winners, listed below, created original “books” featuring tales of family adventures, mystery and amazing animals.

Kindergarten 1st Place:
The Six Fairies and a Dragon by Isabella R. Villella
2nd Place: Buma the Bossy Bird by Anna Gambacorta
3rd Place: The Dog Who Ate Carrots by Alanna Nitto
Honorable Mention: The Mysterious Egg by Steven Higgins

First Grade 1st Place:
Once Upon a Lonely Tree by Anthony Sauer
2nd Place: Pete and His Flame by Owen McCullor
3rd Place: The Colorless Peacock by Madison Perry
Honorable Mention: A Day At The Beach by Samantha Schaab

Second Grade 1st Place:
The Lonely Killer Whale by Hannah Sacilowski
2nd Place: The Rainbow Adventure by Janae Chantel Glover
3rd Place: The Magic Puck by Nolan Mathur
Honorable Mention: God Heard My Cry by Davone Jamar Wedlington

Third Grade 1st Place:
The Turtle and the Tadpole by Cody Petrovsky
2nd Place: What Cats Do by Hugh Brown
3rd Place: Wolf in the Mint Wood by Tabitha Gwen Wechter
Honorable Mention: Just a Dream by Shelby Whalen

WNED was one of 113 public television stations participating in this year’s Contest, with support from The Robert J. Stransky Foundation.Contest entries from Kindergarteners through third graders are first judged at the local level, with local winners advancing to the national competition.

Nationwide, the contest involves more than 40,000 children each year. Conducted by the acclaimed PBS KIDS television children’s series Reading Rainbow with major funding from Country Inns and Suites by Carlson, Inc. and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, it is produced by WNED-TV/Buffalo and Smarterville Productions LLC. The Contest is public television’s longest running and most successful outreach effort.

READING RAINBOW airs weekdays on most PBS stations, including WNED-TV (at 3 pm) and ThinkBright TV/ (at 12 noon as of May 26 on digital 17.3 & Time Warner 21). Designed to encourage children to develop a love of reading and books, the series is now in its 25th season, making it the second-longest running children’s series on PBS. The series has been honored with twenty-six Emmy Awards, including two in 2007 ― for “Outstanding Children’s Series” and “Outstanding Writing In A Children’s Series.”

“Congratulations to all the children and their teachers who entered WNED’s contest,” said Donald K. Boswell, WNED’s President and CEO. “In telling their stories, all participants demonstrated their unique talents and learned from the process.”

Each child who entered the Contest received a Certificate of Achievement. The winning Buffalo-area authors also will be honored at the WNED Studios on May 29.

“It’s impressive to see the results of a contest that inspires so many children to create,” said Pamela Johnson, Ph. D., Vice President, Education & Outreach. “These young authors are not only building literacy skills, but also expressing and sharing their ideas with others. It’s a learning tool with so many benefits.”

All of the first-place stories can be read online at: thinkbright.org/Students/rrcontest/index.asp

The illustrated stories of national Contest winners and a sampling of local winners from previous years are displayed on READING RAINBOW’s Web site (pbskids.org/readingrainbow). In July, the newest winners from the 14th Annual Contest will be posted. The Web site also features fun, engaging activities and games for kids and information about READING RAINBOW for parents and teachers.