Hey, parents! Did you know that the annual PBS KIDS Writers Contest opened yesterday? My daughter had a great time when she participated in the contest, writing and illustrating her own adventure story a few years ago. She's too old to participate now, but I remember well how proud she was to create her story and mail it off to PBS KIDS.
As a Latina mom, I want to urge you to encourage your children to write their own stories. Despite the fact that minorities in the United States will soon be the majority (37% of the current US population are people of color), the number of children's books that contain multicultural content stubbornly remains at only 10 percent. And of that, only a little over 1 percent are Latino children's lit titles.
We need our stories to be heard. But more importantly, we need them to be written. So get out some paper and sharpen up those pencils and support your child's storytelling skills!
The Writers Contest is designed to promote the advancement of children’s literacy skills through hands-on, active learning. The contest is open to children in grades K-3 and encourages creative thinking and storytelling, while building literacy skills through the creation and illustration of original stories.
To enter, kids can submit stories to their local stations, and local winners will then be entered into the national contest. National winners will be announced during the summer of 2015, and the winning stories will be featured on pbskids.org/writerscontest.
This year, the judges include acclaimed writers, producers and children’s media creators, including Marc Brown, author and illustrator of the ARTHUR book series, and the Kratt Brothers, Martin and Chris, from the PBS KIDS show WILD KRATTS. The national winners will receive prize packages including ARTHUR books and a personal technology device courtesy of PBS.
The Writers Contest is designed to promote the advancement of children’s literacy skills through hands-on, active learning. The contest is open to children in grades K-3 and encourages creative thinking and storytelling, while building literacy skills through the creation and illustration of original stories.
To enter, kids can submit stories to their local stations, and local winners will then be entered into the national contest. National winners will be announced during the summer of 2015, and the winning stories will be featured on pbskids.org/writerscontest.
This year, the judges include acclaimed writers, producers and children’s media creators, including Marc Brown, author and illustrator of the ARTHUR book series, and the Kratt Brothers, Martin and Chris, from the PBS KIDS show WILD KRATTS. The national winners will receive prize packages including ARTHUR books and a personal technology device courtesy of PBS.