2008 Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Winners

2008 Contest

Imaginations literally soared as students wrote about a day without gravity, an octopus that could not ink, and how a little squirrel saved a big planet in WVPT—Virginia’s Public Television’s annual “Reading Rainbow” Young Writers and Illustrators Contest.

Fourteen students in grades K—3 from among the 330 that entered were named winners in WVPT’s 2008 Contest and were recognized for their creative stories and illustrations May 1 at the public television station’s studios in Harrisonburg.

The annual contest is designed to encourage children to get excited about writing and illustrating their own creative stories. For the contest, students were asked to enter an original story and include a minimum of five original illustrations. An entry could take the form of a fiction or nonfiction story, prose or poetry.

At the awards reception May 1 at 3:00 p.m., WVPT President & General Manager David Mullins and Al Boxley of McDonald’s of Harrisonburg welcomed and greeted the guests as videos of the first place stories were viewed and prizes distributed.


Full Group:
Left to Right:
Back Row: Al Boxley, Jr. (McDonald’s of Harrisonburg), Carly Howard, Seth Bontrager, Abigail Hissong, Faith Horton, Christopher McGahren, David Mullins (WVPT President & General Manager)

Middle Row: Judy Brown (keynote speaker), Sofia Chu, Caroline McGahren, Reva Rajan, Rama Shtaieh, Emily Bywaters, Halina Guterbock

Front Row: G. Maeve Sweeney, Audrey Bloomfield, Grace Miller

Reading Rainbow Stories Video Clips
2008 Winners

First Place Winners:
Kindergarten
G. Maeve Sweeney, “Bee and Shark”
Boyce Elementary School, Clarke County
First Grade
Caroline McGahren, “The Octopus That Could Not Ink”
Meriwether Lewis Elementary, Albemarle County
Second Grade
Carly Howard, “Susie Squirrel Saves Our Earth”
McGaheysville Elementary School, Rockingham County
Third Grade
Abigail Hissong, “Issues in Iceburg”
Keister Elementary School, Harrisonburg

Second Place Winners:
Kindergarten
Audrey Bloomfield, “Sherbert Across the River”
Home Schooled, Staunton
First Grade
Reva Rajan, “The Magic Goose”
Greenbriar East Elementary, Fairfax County
Second Grade
Christopher McGahren, “The Clock That Couldn’t Tell Time”
Meriwether Lewis Elementary, Albemarle County
Third Grade
Faith Horton, “The Quilt’s Tale”
Stone Spring Elementary, Harrisonburg

Third Place Winners:
Kindergarten
Grace Miller, “The Three Little Wolves”
Waterman Elementary, Harrisonburg
First Grade
Rama Shtaieh, “Why Do I Have To Wear Glasses!?”
Keister Elementary School, Harrisonburg
Second Grade
Emily Bywaters, “The Fairy Friends”
Home Schooled, Greenville
Third Grade
Seth Bontrager, “A Day Without Gravity”
Keister Elementary School, Harrisonburg

Honorable Mentions:
First Grade
Halina Guterbock, “The Two Friends”
Brownsville Elementary, Albemarle County
Third Grade
Sofia Chu, “The Perfect Cake”
Luray Elementary School, Page County

A 30-minute program featuring the winning stories and footage from the awards reception will be broadcast on WVPT—Virginia’s Public Television Sunday, July 20, at 8:30 a.m. and will repeat on Sunday, July 27, at 1:30 p.m.

At the awards reception, author and retired educator Judy Brown gave the keynote address. Over her 40-year career in education, Ms. Brown taught youth in grades one through 12. She was an elementary school administrator and, most recently, supervised student teachers for the College of William & Mary.

After retirement, Ms. Brown joined the first group of volunteers working at the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project at Jamestown Island. At this time she became intrigued with the artifacts that were discovered and in 2005 published a collection of historical fiction short stories titled Jamestown’s Uncovered Treasures.

Local university and public school educators, librarians and a 2007 winner (who is now in the fourth grade at Luray Elementary School in Page County) were judges for this year’s Contest.

WVPT’s “Reading Rainbow” Young Writers and Illustrators Contest was underwritten by McDonald’s of Harrisonburg. The Daily Progress of Charlottesville was the media sponsor for the Contest. Cindy Atkins of WVPT coordinated the Contest.