Library Of Congress Competition Gives Award To Westlake Student

WESTLAKE, OH — A Westlake Schools student has won an award in the Library of Congress' Letters About Literature Contest. Seventh-grader Lillie Forbes' got a third-place award and was chosen out of more than 1,200 entries.

Forbes' wrote a letter to Shelley Pearsall, the author of "Crooked River," for the contest. She was named Top 20 competitors in Ohio. Forbes will be honored at a May 12 awards ceremony at the Cleveland Public Library.

Some other Lee Burneson Middle School students also advanced in the Top 20. Those students include Ashley Rocky, Natalie Farrag, Amelia Kollar, Michelle Ho, Katrina Black and Allie Chang. Dover Intermediate School writers Carson Tucholski and Vince Bawter also were state finalists whose letters were among the top 5 percent.

Students in Deb Schrembeck's and Sara Latkowski's Lee Burneson Middle School Language Arts classes took part in the competition. Students had to read a book, poem or speech and then write the author about how the book affected them personally. The writer could be living or dead.

More than 3,000 entries were submitted from Ohio students, including 1,213 at the middle school level and 1,1017 from grades 4-6. Nationally, about 8,000 letters make it to state-level judging. Letters were then judged on state and national levels.

Only first-place state winners moved on to national competition. State finalist letters will be forwarded to living authors in hopes of a personal reply.

Photo from Westlake Schools