Young State College writers fill pages with imagination

If you’re looking to add to your summer reading list, look no further. The results of this year’s Write and Illustrate Your Own Book Contest at Schlow Centre Region Library have been announced.

Three winners, whose books will be bound and added to the children’s department collection, were chosen in each of these categories: first/second grade; third/fourth grade; fifth/sixth grade; and past winners. They were also honored at an awards ceremony last month.

There were 66 entries in this year’s contest, which is open to children in grades one through six. A panel of judges chose the winners based on creativity, grammar, spelling and sentence structure, among other criteria.

Katie Brennan, Schlow children’s services librarian, said the judges had to make some difficult decisions.

“We’re always so impressed by the hard work and talent of every single author who submits to our contest,” she wrote in an email. “Every year, it’s interesting to see if one genre is represented more than any other among the submissions. We had a lot of fantasy books this year - including a story about chicken nuggets that are brought to life by a magical kitten. Centre County kids are not lacking in the creativity department.”

Take a look at the covers of the 12 winning books.

This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 5:45 PM.