MIDDLEBURY — Six-year-old Reed Allen and seven-year-old Campbell Gong, both of Middlebury, have won first place for stories they entered in the 2017 Vermont PBS Kids’ Writers Contest. The annual contest, sponsored by Vermont PBS, accepts entries from children in kindergarten through grade 5.
Entrants from across Vermont must submit an original short story, accompanied by at least five illustrations. The entries are judged by a panel of writers, youth advocates, and librarians, who bestow a first and second place award for each grade level.
Allen, a kindergarten student at Mary Hogan Elementary School, won first place for his story, “Bear’s Berry Adventure.” Gong, a home-schooled second grader, was awarded first place for “Campbell’s Home in the Grand Canyon: The First Adventure.”
Both winners were part of a group of students who began working on their entries at Ilsley Public Library during the February school vacation, under the guidance of Children’s Librarian Tricia Allen.
This is the fourth year in a row that a Middlebury resident has placed in the Vermont contest: Joshua Kafumbe was a 2014 winner, and Lucy Fischer won in both 2015 and 2016.
Allen and Gong will visit the Vermont PBS television studios in Colchester, where they will be filmed reading their winning stories; this footage will air on Vermont PBS, and will be posted on the vpt.org website. In addition, Gong and Allen will attend an awards ceremony along with the other ten young Vermont writers who earned awards in the contest.
Reed Allen, Campbell Gong, and the other Addison County students who entered stories in the Vermont PBS Kids’ Writers Contest will read their stories during a celebration at Ilsley Public Library on Saturday, May 13, at 10:30 a.m.