How Many Students Participated?

Nationwide, approximately 70,000 students entered the 2010 Letters About Literature contest.

There were 1,811 entries from students in Iowa.
426 from students in grades 4 through 6 (Level I)
996 from students in grades 7 and 8 (Level II)
389 from students in grades 9 through 12 (Level III)

The Letters About Literature national office read nearly 70,000 entries and returned the top letters to each state.  In Iowa there were 33 finalists at Level I, 30 at Level II, and 19 at Level III.  There were 19 semifinalists at Level I, 40 at Level II and 17 at Level III.

Winners' and Finalists' letters are added to the Web site as submitted by the student, except we have included only the school and/or town instead of the complete return address.

The 2010 Iowa winner at each level received a cash prize of $50 plus a $50 Target GiftCard and advanced for national judging.  The students who placed second and third at each level received a $50 cash prize and the three honorable mentions received $25.

At the national level, two winners plus four honorable mentions were selected for each competition level. Austin Helmink was named a 2010 National Winner.