State library announces Letters About Literature contest

The 22nd annual Letters About Literature contest, a national reading and writing competition for students sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in association with its affiliate state centers, is now accepting entries.
To enter, fourth- through 12th-grade students write personal letters to living or dead authors from any genre explaining how what the students read changed their views of the world or themselves, according to a news release from the office of Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne.
Students may enter on their own or through their schools or local libraries in three levels. Levels include: Level 1, grades four to six; Level 2, grades seven to eight; and Level 3, grades nine to 12.
The national Letters About Literature team will choose up to 50 entries in each level from each state. Then Louisiana winners will be chosen by a panel of judges from throughout the state, according to the news release.
Louisiana’s first place winners’ entries will be submitted to the Library of Congress for the national competition with the chance of winning up to $1,000.
Louisiana winners will receive $100 for first place, $75 for second place and $50 for third place, made possible by a Library of Congress grant. State winners will be recognized at next year’s Louisiana Book Festival.
The student’s letter and entry coupon, available online, must be sent to Letters About Literature, P.O. Box 5308, Woodbridge, Virginia 22194. The postmark deadline for Level 3 is Dec. 15; for Levels 1 and 2, the deadline is Jan. 15, 2015. Entry forms and information may be downloaded at www.read.gov/letters.
The Louisiana Letters About Literature contest is made possible by the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana with the assistance of the Louisiana Writing Project and the Louisiana Library and Book Festival Foundation. For more information about the State Library, visit www.state.lib.la.us.