Iowa Students and Teachers Lauded for Responding to Letters About Literature Program
The national Letters About Literature reading/writing contest deadline arrived on January 6, 2012 this year. "Once again, Iowa's participation is extraordinary given the population of our state,"said Robin Martin, coordinator for the Iowa Center for the Book. "Only five states had more entries than Iowa."
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2,214 Iowa students wrote letters to authors of books that changed their view of themselves or the world. According to Catherine Gourley, National Director of LAL, this year the program has see a large increase in individual entries, and these are still being counted and processed in Washington, D.C.
More than 100 judges across the country are reading the 56,000 letters submitted. Judges include authors, publishers, librarians, and educators from all 50 states. "The first two rounds of reading by national judges determine which letters advance to state-level judging. First place state winners in each level are then returned to the national office where a panel of judges assess the state winners to select six national finalists, two per competition level," explained Gourley.
During mid-March, Iowa judges will read and select winners' letters in the three levels: grades 4-6, grades 7-8 and grades 9-12. "The middle grades (Level 2) have the greatest concentration of participants. More than half of our entries came from these children," noted Martin. Letters are judged in three areas:
Purpose /Content
Does the letter address how the work changed his/her world view or self? Are there specific, concrete examples, anecdotes, quotes, relevant to the reader’s response to the book?
Exposition
Is the letter organized and coherent? Does it hook the reader immediately? Is it a dialogue with the author, not a summary of plot? Is the writer’s prose grammatically correct?
Writer’s Voice
Does the letter exhibit originality of expression? Use metaphor or imagery to make points? Is word choice vivid and appropriate, intended to communicate, not to impress?
"The quality of Iowa writers is consistently high," said Gourley. The deadline for announcing Iowa's winners is March 26, 2012. National winners will be announced mid-April. A celebration of Iowa winners will be held May 4, 2012. The Guest Speaker will be award-winning Iowa children's author Dori Hillestad Butler.
