KLRU announces the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest! Designed to promote the advancement of children’s literacy skills through hands-on and active learning, the contest encourages children in grades K-3 to submit their own original illustrated stories.

How the Contest Works
Children in Central Texas can submit their entries to the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest either by mailing their entries to KLRU or uploading their stories to our website: klru.org/writerscontest. The upload window begins March 1, 2013. All entries must be postmarked or uploaded by April 6th. A panel of local judges will select local winners for each grade level by April 20th and award prizes including books, toys and gift cards with an announcement and celebration on Saturday, April 27.

The 1st place local winners from each grade level will then be entered into the national contest where a panel of esteemed judges will rank the top 12 entries!  National winners will be announced during the summer of 2013 and the winning stories will be featured on pbskids.org/writerscontest.

PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest Honorary Judges
A panel of America’s foremost children’s authors, illustrators and content experts will serve as honorary judges for the the contest! The 2013 honorary judges include:

Lisa Henson: As Chief Executive Officer of The Jim Henson Company, Henson serves as an executive producer of Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train, both currently airing daily on PBS KIDS, and Pajanimals, a musical puppet series airing daily on Sprout.

Jeff Kinney: As a New York Times bestselling author, online game developer and designer, Kinney has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. His seventh book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel, is the biggest print book of 2012. His book series has over 83 million in print worldwide, translated into more than 40 languages.

Kate Klimo: As Vice President and Publisher of the Random House/Golden Books Group, she has been responsible for extending the Seuss brand into new formats including board and novelty books, and publishing non-fiction celebrations of Dr. Seuss’s life and works. She is the production executive of The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! and is the author of many books for young readers. She has also written for young adults (The Centauriad Series) and has a new series for children, Dog Diaries, launching in January 2013.

Jarrett Krosoczka: Two-time winner of the Third to Fourth Grade Book of the Year in the Children’s Choice Book Awards, author and illustrator for sixteen published books – ten picture books and six graphic novels. He has seen his work recommended by national publications like Newsweek, The New York Times and USA Today. His Punk Farm and Lunch Lady series are also in development to be feature films.

Susan Meddaugh: Author and illustrator of Martha Speaks, the best-selling book series, as well as a creative producer of the award-winning PBS KIDS series of the same name.

R.L. Stine: As one of the best-selling children’s authors in history, he has sold over 350 million books that have been read all over the world including Goosebumps – one of the best-selling children’s series of all-time.

Creative Writing Resources
The Contest is supported by a robust set of resources for children, parents and teachers! Story ideas, activity sheets, along with the previous winning entries are available on the Contest website to inspire children during the brainstorming process. PBS LearningMedia is also offering a collection of online teacher resources for use in classrooms nationwide.

To enter the Contest and for more information on entry rules and contest resources visit: http://www.klru.org/writerscontest.

KLRU’s launch date is February 1st but parents and schools may start working on their stories right now!  Just download the writers guide to help you and your child with the story development and look through the contest rules to make sure that you understand your child’s  grade criteria.  The contest entry deadline is Friday, March 25th (postmarked or delivered).

Go to http://www.klru.org/pbs-kids-go-writers-contest-2011/ to download the contest rules,  entry form and writer’s guide.  Be sure to check out the winners from last year!