Hopkins Girl Wins National Handwriting Contest

HOPKINS, MN — Eighteen students from private and public schools are learning that they have the best handwriting in the country, including Ethny Schuett, who attends kindergarden at Agamim Classical Academy in Hopkins.

Out of more than 250,000 entries, these students emerged as the national grade-level champions for their manuscript or cursive handwriting in the 2018 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest.

The Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest, now in its 27th year, recognizes students from kindergarten through eighth grade for handwriting excellence.

Students in kindergarten through second grade compete in the manuscript (print) category, while students in grades three through eight compete in the cursive category. All students write the required sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” because it contains every letter of the alphabet.

Judges select winners based on shape, size, spacing and slant.

Participating schools held their own handwriting competitions and selected grade-level winners. The grade-level winners advanced to state competitions, where judges selected a public and private grade-level winner for each state. From there, judges selected 18 public and private national grade-level semifinalists. The top nine grand national grade-level champions were chosen from the group of semifinalists.

“Students and teachers look forward to entering our national contest every year, and we are so proud to recognize them for their commitment to handwriting,” said Lisa Carmona, president of Zaner-Bloser, in a statement.

“Research shows that handwriting is a foundational skill necessary for the development of students’ reading, writing, language use and critical-thinking abilities and plays a vital role in learning to spell, read and write.”

Zaner-Bloser congratulates the 2018 grand national grade-level champions:

• Grade K: Ethny Schuett – Agamim Classical Academy, Hopkins, MN
• Grade 1: Isabella Salas – Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School, Ft. Wayne, IN
• Grade 2: Noah Tacy – Washington Drive Primary School, Centerport, NY
• Grade 3: Edbert Aquino – Academy of Our Lady of Grace, Fairview, NJ
• Grade 4: Elle Mason – Valley Christian Academy, Santa Maria, CA
• Grade 5: Madilyn Kerber – Sacred Heart School, Cullman, AL
• Grade 6: Shiloh Carson – LaGrange Elementary, LaGrange, WY
• Grade 7: Benjamin Corpuz – Our Lady of Victory Catholic School, Victoria, TX
• Grade 8: Leyna Lehenbauer – Our Savior Lutheran School, Louisville, KY

Each grand national grade-level champion earns a trophy, a $500 check and educational materials for his or her school valued at $1,000.

In addition, Zaner-Bloser gives the teacher of each grand national grade-level champion the choice to attend either the International Literacy Association Annual Conference or the Staff Development for Educators National Conference, both in July.

Image via Zaner-Bloser