Drumroll, please...

Emma Clark Library has announced the winners for the Helen Stein Shack Picture Book Award, a contest which showcases the young writing and artistic talent in the Three Village Community:

Grand Prize (Grades 7 – 9 category): Good Night, Judy by Katie Zhao

Grand Prize (Grades 10 – 12 category): Sal the Sock by Michelle Pacala

Honorable Mention (Grades 7 – 9 category): Rainbow by Nicole Freeley

Honorable Mention (Grades 10 – 12 category): Honu by Samantha White

Good Night, Judy by Katie Zhao is a story with a familiar subject that many young children and their parents can relate to - a girl’s fear of the dark and the noises in her home at night. Sal the Sock by Michelle Pacala is a fun, colorful book told in a sing song, rhyming tone about a sock who loses his friends in the laundry.

Winning authors will be recognized at a private awards ceremony at Emma Clark Library on April 17, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. At the reception, a $500 scholarship will be awarded to both grand-prize winners, and bound books for all winning entries will be presented and added to the library’s Local Focus Collection. In addition, an e-book will be created and made available for all winning entries. Light refreshments will be served at the reception, and desserts are once again being generously donated by The Bite Size Bake Shop, a local Three Village business. All contest entrants will receive a Certificate of Participation at the awards ceremony. They will also be given the opportunity on another date to record a video reading their book for Community Service credit.

After the awards, at 3:00 p.m. on April 17, there will be a special story time of the grand prize-winning books. All Three Village residents may register on the library’s website, emmaclark.org, for this unique opportunity – to hear the newest winners read their books for the first time – beginning April 1.

The Helen Stein Shack Book Contest called for teens in grades 7 through 12 who live in the Three Village Central School District to create a children’s picture book. Each entry could be the work of a single author/illustrator or a collaborative effort of an author and an illustrator. The contest was divided into two grade categories, grades 7 through 9 and grades 10 through 12, with one Grand Prize winner from each group, as well as an Honorable Mention winner from each category.

This award is given in memory of Helen Stein Shack by her family. As a teacher, Mrs. Shack was committed to the education of children, and she especially loved literature written for them. She was a frequent visitor to Emma Clark Library where, even in retirement, she kept current with the latest children’s books. The library is grateful to the children of the late Mrs. Shack who have established a substantial endowment with the library to cover the cost of presenting this award.

At least year’s awards ceremony, Sherry Cleary, daughter of the late Helen Stein Shack, told the audience that the teens who enter this contest “demonstrate empathy, creativity, intellect and a tenacity. This looks sweet, but it is really hard work.”

The Emma S. Clark Memorial Library, located at 120 Main Street in Setauket and on the web at www.emmaclark.org, provides public library service to all residents of the Three Village Central School District.

“The Heart of the Three Village Community”