{"id":200905,"date":"2019-04-22T12:56:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T16:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=200905"},"modified":"2023-07-03T13:01:55","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T17:01:55","slug":"connecticuts-2019-letters-about-literature-contest-winners-named","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2019\/04\/connecticuts-2019-letters-about-literature-contest-winners-named\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut\u2019s 2019 Letters About Literature Contest Winners Named"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/\">Neag School of Education<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/english.uconn.edu\/\">UConn\u2019s Department of English<\/a>, and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cwp.uconn.edu\/\">Connecticut Writing Project (CWP)<\/a>\u00a0at UConn are proud to announce Connecticut\u2019s winners of the 26th annual\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.read.gov\/letters\/\">Letters About Literature<\/a>\u00a0competition, a nationwide contest sponsored by the Library of Congress for students in grades 4 through 12.<\/p>\n<p>This fall, the Neag School, the\u00a0Department of English, and the\u00a0CWP\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/s.uconn.edu\/neaglal\">served as the contest\u2019s Connecticut sponsors<\/a>\u00a0for the 2018-19 academic year; Neag School Professor\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/person\/douglas-kaufman\/\">Doug Kaufman<\/a>, CWP Director\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/english.uconn.edu\/jason-courtmanche\/\">Jason Courtmanche<\/a>, and Department of English Ph.D. candidate Mollie Kervick served as the contest\u2019s representatives for the state of Connecticut.<\/p>\n<p>There were 946 submissions from Connecticut students, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1V11Qlmzcb2W_QTuJ7UDPY9ROlIbQY3h7\/view\">96 semi-finalists<\/a>.\u00a0Each semi-finalist will receive a certificate of recognition. Nine state finalists from the contest\u2019s three categories (Grades 4-6, Grades 7-8, and Grades 9-12) have been selected, and each will receive a cash prize and state recognition, which includes a special ceremony at the Connecticut State Capitol Building on Friday, April 26.\u00a0From those nine state finalists, three first-place state finalists have been selected and will advance to the national competition, for which winners will be chosen later this month.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/letters-about-literature-contest\/\">Read more about the contest<\/a>, and click the student finalists\u2019 names below to read their winning essays.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/media\/set\/?vanity=uconnneag&amp;set=a.10156245125526765\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">View photos from the April ceremony at the state Capitol, celebrating Connecticut\u2019s nine finalists.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Congratulations to the finalists for the state of Connecticut, listed along with their school, teacher, and the work of literature that is the focus of their essay:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Level I (Grades 4-6)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First Place: Lauren Zhang,\u00a0<\/strong>Middlesex Middle School, Chelsea Marshall,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/18dCXxlx1m12lHIjGa-CALbBStHarffrO\/view?usp=sharing\"><em>Salt to the Sea\u00a0<\/em><\/a>by Ruta Sepetys<\/li>\n<li><strong>Honorable Mention:\u00a0<\/strong>Sara Hassan, CREC Discovery Academy, Meg Smith,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1MDxH_q1cAft0Ijt7dqDjc0RmQ8iyUMsr\/view?usp=sharing\">Wilma Unlimited<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by Kathleen Krull<\/li>\n<li><strong>Honorable Mention:\u00a0<\/strong>Rory Allen, King Philip Middle School, Lucinda Kulvinskas,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1uN58GQN-Bi0SE1XKRZpkgg6eONQk6TFq\/view?usp=sharing\">Hamilton: The Revolution<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by Lin Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Level II (Grades 7-8)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First Place: Sarah Chandler<\/strong>, King Philip Middle School, Lauren Reynolds,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/14j2bA5MOHT5R28K_lNhDg7fPf5LVlv0U\/view?usp=sharing\">C<em>lockwork Angel\u00a0<\/em><\/a>by Cassandra Clare<\/li>\n<li><strong>Honorable Mention:\u00a0<\/strong>Grace Wright-Goodison, King Philip Middle School, Cindy Kent,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/16AhykxvR5lFS5RQX4TacIBg4E37sFEH2\/view?usp=sharing\">Blind<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by Rachel DeWoskin<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Level III (Grades 9-12)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First Place: Geena Kim<\/strong>, Westminster School, Megan Danyliw,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1nGyqP97NJO8dx__920Ei7H7UXU35QSHQ\/view?usp=sharing\"><em>When Breath Becomes Air\u00a0<\/em><\/a>by Paul Kalanithi<\/li>\n<li><strong>Honorable Mention:\u00a0<\/strong>Brenna Leech, E.O. Smith High School, Amy Nocton*<sup>\u2020<\/sup>,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1TptH1BjJ53UoflVOk0C735sEZLR1ROg6\/view?usp=sharing\">Paper Towns<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by John Green<\/li>\n<li><strong>Honorable Mention:\u00a0<\/strong>Kha Dinh, South Windsor High School, Danielle Pieratti*<sup>\u2020<\/sup>,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1nvFf2CqW2ghGNQz7IQhTxEJKzYIIEY-n\/view?usp=sharing\">Where You Go Is Not Who You\u2019ll Be<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by Frank Bruni<\/li>\n<li><strong>Honorable Mention:\u00a0<\/strong>Angela Graziani, South Windsor High School, Danielle Pieratti*<sup>\u2020<\/sup>,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1AeJ3xgYkrcqOB7WLEBMBUbbXzXyYmv_P\/view?usp=sharing\">Cry Silent Tears<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>by Joe Peters<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>*<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0Affiliated with CWP<\/em><\/p>\n<p><sup>\u2020<\/sup><em>\u00a0UConn alumna\/us<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Students in the Neag School and Department of English judged the 96 Letters About Literature contest semi-finalists this past month. The judges selected the best Letters About Literature submitted by Connecticut students at each of the three competition levels (grades 4-5, 7-8, and 9-12).<\/p>\n<p>Thank you again to the contest judges, who are current students in the Neag School of Education Integrated Bachelor\u2019s\/Master\u2019s program with a second major or concentration in English:<\/p>\n<p>Missy Bancroft<br \/>\nJack Curry<br \/>\nKiana Foster-Mauro<br \/>\nElizabeth George<br \/>\nSheila Higgins<br \/>\nLauren Jolles<br \/>\nRuthie Kelley<br \/>\nSam Taylor Laviero<br \/>\nTheresa Legein<br \/>\nSammi Mahoney<br \/>\nJulia Mancini<br \/>\nKassidy Manness<br \/>\nCarly Martin<br \/>\nJenna Massicotte<br \/>\nLyric McVoy<br \/>\nLindsey McMorris<br \/>\nMarisa Nazzaro<br \/>\nJulia Russo<br \/>\nAjane Santora-Fyne<br \/>\nMatt Scalzo<br \/>\nNatasha Schweitzer<br \/>\nMelissa Scrivani<br \/>\nSuli Serrano-Haynes<br \/>\nEmily Smith<br \/>\nEmily Wade<br \/>\nDelaney Wisniewski<br \/>\nZhanya Wrentz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Neag School of Education, UConn\u2019s Department of English, and the Connecticut Writing Project (CWP) at UConn are proud to announce Connecticut\u2019s winners of the 26th annual Letters About Literature competition, a nationwide contest sponsored by the Library of Congress for students in grades 4 through 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":200906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2424,1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1879],"class_list":["post-200905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neag-community-engagement","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 07:39:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200907,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200905\/revisions\/200907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/200906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200905"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=200905"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=200905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}