:Student Competitions:
River of Words
Coordinated in Georgia by the Georgia Center for the Book and Project WET (Water Education for Teachers), a program of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, River of Words is a national poetry and art competition. Students in grades 4-12 are invited to create visual art or poetry that shows an understanding and appreciation of their natural environment, and specifically of their own watershed.
More than 150,000 entries have been submitted since the program began in 1997. Thousands of students have participated in Georgia; more than 2,000 entries in three grade categories were received in 2009. Entries were judged on a state and national level. Georgia has had several National Grand Prize Winners in recent years.
Letters About Literature
The Georgia Center for the Book, in partnership with the Center for the Book in Washington, DC and Target Corp., sponsors this annual national student competition. In this program, students in grades 4-12 are asked to write a letter to the author – living or dead – whose work has had the most impact on their lives or influenced their view of the world. Thousands of students from around the state have participated in Letters about Literature since 2002. Approximately 1,000 entries were received in 2009. Entries are judged at the state and national level in three age categories, and Georgia has produced three national winners.
The 2010 Winners
Level I
- 1st Place: Ciara Celine Sadaka, Pace Academy, Atlanta
- 2nd Place: Melina Weaver, Trickum Middle School, Lilburn
- 3rd Place: Didi Elder, The Walker School, Marietta
- Honorable Mention: Meredith Peace, Heritage Middle School, Ringgold
Level II
- 1st Place: Meg Dominey, Trickum Middle School, Lilburn
- 2nd Place: Nika Fendler, The Walker School, Marietta
- 3rd Place: Katie Pritchett, Heritage Middle School, Ringgold
Level III
- 1st Place: Cinnamon Williams, Temple High School, Temple
- 2nd Place: Chukwudi Omobare, Loganville Christian Academy, Loganville
- 3rd Place: Sumbul Siddiqui, Parkview High School, Lilburn
- Honorable Mention: Doreen Xu, individual entry, Lithia Springs
Level I Winning Letter
Dear Emily Rodda:
I used to live in a world where no one understood me. No one knew why I couldn't read. On top of that, my "friends" were getting annoyed with me for always having to ask them how to spell a word. I only had a few friends at the time. I knew that I liked books, however … I never got through a single one. One day, when the boys came out of the auditorium, they all had dragon books and key chains … I decided it was worth one more try to fit in. the next day my dad bought me the boxed set. I could not read what was on the front cover even though I was in the third grade. My dad read it for me: Dragons of the Deltora . In the middle of the box set was a clear plastic hole, and through it you could see the shiny dragon pendant. When I got home, I took the pendant out, and left the purple box to sit on my white bookshelf, forever collecting dust. I left the box sitting there for a year and a half.
In this time, I changed schools. My teacher (said) that the reason I could not read was because I was dyslexic. My parents had me tested, and as soon as we found out, I was sent to Schenck, a school for dyslexics. My teachers taught me how to read. By the end of the fourth grade, I was perfectly capable of reading a book but would not try. I would only visit the magical worlds on tape, but never where they belonged, in text. One day, I was at a loss for books "to read" and decided to pick up your books. I was transported to the wonderful world of Deltora and walked along Leif and his companions for a whole Saturday. These books got me to read, and I keep coming back for more.
Now I am an avid reader. Not only did you teach me to read, but also how to have an adventure and stand up for myself when no parents are around to be my security blanket. But whenever I am having difficulty with a book or in life, I come back to Leif and get lost in Deltora.
Leif's biggest friend,
Ciara Celine Sadaka
Level II Winning Letter
Dear Nancy Werlin:
I loved your book Black Mirror. It wasn't because I'm in a similar situation. I'm not. Instead, I enjoyed it because it is an ingenious blend of all things I love in a book. I was surprised by how many secrets are woven into one story. I never would have guessed that James and Ms. Wiles are FBI agents, or that Unity Service is a front for a drug ring. I'm still a bit shocked over how it was Saskia who murdered Daniel instead of Leyden having killed him.
I don't know what it's like to go through any of that. I'm no rich preppy or anyone from a "disadvantaged background." I've always been an only child, so I've never lost a sibling. Yet somehow, I can imagine myself in their world … the book pulled me into its world and didn't let me put it down until the end. I felt as if I became part of the story …
This book gave me a window into a world that could happen to someone else, not to me. Somehow, I can reach into this world you've written; I can feel my hair stand up on end at the climax. I have a strong connection to this book because it pulled me in from the very beginning. Black Mirror had a hypnotizing world and a cast of characters.
Sincerely
Meg Dominey
Level III Winning Letter
Dear Mitch Albom:
Young women sometimes encounter situations that could best be handled with the advice of a man. There is an understandable connection between a girl and he father – an irreplaceable one. Unfortunately, when a guy liked me or when I wanted tips on how to throw a baseball, I was completely oblivious as to whom or what to ask. There is something a girl needs when she wakes and the closet door is open and she's scared to close it, or when she needs help with her math homework and mom is heavily occupied: that thing is her father. And when I needed one, he was never to be found. One way or another, I was figuring it out on my own. That is, until I was figuring it out on my own until I read For One More Day, by you.
In reading this book, I admit that it did evoke my past – past memories of broken promises and empty regrets. When I was 4, I didn't understand. I didn't comprehend why it had to be me and why at such a young age. Soon, I figured, "Asking doesn't make him come back." So I shook it off. So, I shook it off. I decided I'd be all I could without him. I think my release from the stress and hurt was activities. I've made all A's throughout all the grades and have maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout high school so far. I'm on the varsity cross country and track teams. I've joined a host of clubs to delve into my community. I figure they'll keep me occupied – occupied with no time to think about him. Personally, I identified with Chick. His dad was in the family, left, and never turned back; my dad was never really around to begin with … He hid his pain from his mom, his little sister, and even himself, much like I did. That was a major strength we shared: the ability to mask.
For One More Day made me have an epiphany; perhaps that's why I enjoyed it so much. I'd been lashing out at males, blaming all the good ones for the actions of the bad one. I'd been hiding my pain all these years, being nonchalant about the situation when, in fact, I was devastated. I think that's the main difference between chick and me; he was determined to hold on and I was all too willing to let go. For One More Day taught me that the real solution was not to ignore but to confront. Reading it made me call my "father" and tell him how I really felt – how much of an abyss he'd left in my heart, how badly he's made me feel, how incomplete of a family I was forced to grow up and survive in.
Mr. Albom, my life was changed when I read this book. It taught me the valuable life lesson of forgiveness, for if I hadn’t learned it, I’d still be wandering around mad at the world and those in it … thank you. You have absolutely no idea what it meant to me to read and comprehend the real meaning of redemption from my past.
Sincerely,
Cinnamon Williams