{"id":201212,"date":"2018-03-26T13:14:24","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T17:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=201212"},"modified":"2023-07-12T13:35:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T17:35:50","slug":"connecticuts-2018-letters-about-literature-contest-winners-named","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/03\/connecticuts-2018-letters-about-literature-contest-winners-named\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut\u2019s 2018 Letters About Literature Contest Winners Named"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Neag School of Education, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/english.uconn.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UConn Department of English<\/a>, and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cwp.uconn.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connecticut Writing Project (CWP)<\/a>\u00a0at UConn are proud to announce Connecticut\u2019s winners of the 25th 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><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3504 img-responsive lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1621\/2015\/10\/Letters-about-Literature-image_theme-400x181.jpg\" alt=\"Theme Letters About Literature\" width=\"400\" height=\"181\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/181;\" \/>This fall, the Neag School, the\u00a0Department of English, and the\u00a0CWP\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/s.uconn.edu\/neaglal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">served as the contest\u2019s Connecticut sponsors<\/a>\u00a0for the 2017-18 academic year; Neag 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\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jason Courtmanche<\/a>, and Neag School Ph.D. candidate Dani King-Watkins served as the contest\u2019s representatives for the state of Connecticut.<\/p>\n<p>There were more than 1,300 submissions from Connecticut students, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1tJEpo3GWKPiv9TU83NJw6r77Xe4kVGmzXwY39pvUR0I\/edit?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">120 finalists<\/a>.\u00a0Each finalist will receive a certificate of recognition. Nine winners from each of 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 20.\u00a0From those nine winners, three first-place winners have been selected, who will now advance to the national competition, for which winners will be chosen later this month.\u00a0Read more about the contest\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/letters-about-literature-contest\/\">here<\/a>, and click the students\u2019 names below to read their winning essays.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Congratulations to the winners for the state of Connecticut:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Level I (Grades 4-6)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First place:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/18rQhQTnTwyDnYF0VRpS6dcMQQsYnMUI3\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dominic Roussos<\/a>, King Philip Middle School, West Hartford (Teacher \u2013 Lucinda Kulvinskas) \u2014 Essay based on\u00a0<em>The King\u2019s Stilts<\/em>\u00a0by Doctor Seuss<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second place:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1AMdDTD4_x3xhZ3-EwuCZHsTCg0HdyfgV\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jackson Drew<\/a>, Macdonough School, Middletown (Teacher \u2013 John Ferrero) \u2014 Essay based on\u00a0<em>Wonder<\/em>\u00a0by R.J. Palacio<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second place:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1ROR08mTiUF_ucVgKzxeTTEanJyLfOhfB\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Clare Sweeney<\/a>,\u00a0King Philip Middle School, West Hartford (Teacher \u2013 Lucinda Kulvinskas) \u2014\u00a0Essay based on\u00a0<em>Out of My Mind<\/em>\u00a0by Sharon Draper<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Level II (Grades 7-8)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First place:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1N8KVK1IfIY2blXWy7tWAQnjMtXqC89vc\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Katherine Van Tassel<\/a>,\u00a0Worthington Hooker School, New Haven (Teacher \u2013 Eden Stein<strong>*<\/strong>) \u2014\u00a0Essay based on\u00a0<em>The Book Thief\u00a0<\/em>by Markus Zusak<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second place:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1OyuMHLUl2PdHV1JvNG4dciEP9UqwCh_z\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michelle Zhu<\/a>,\u00a0Mansfield Middle School, Storrs (Teacher \u2013 Melissa Szych) \u2014\u00a0Essay based on\u00a0<em>The Crystal Ribbon<\/em>\u00a0by Celeste Lim<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Level III (Grades 9-12)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First place:<\/strong>\u00a0Brielle Cayer, Middletown High School, Middletown (Teacher \u2013 David Frankel) \u2014\u00a0Essay based on\u00a0<em>Just Listen<\/em>\u00a0by Sarah Dessen<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second place:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1PxB7X53OLHQ57AL99oKIKVu2InPI24ZS\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keely Barletta<\/a>,\u00a0ACES Educational Center for the Arts, New Haven (Teacher \u2013 Deborah Cannarella) \u2014\u00a0Essay based on\u00a0<em>We\u2019ll Paint the Octopus Red<\/em>\u00a0by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second place:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1OLqJyuM3oVSKSBSJZYqfem5l_VhZamty\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Allison Blume<\/a>,\u00a0Rockville High School, Vernon (Teacher \u2013 Shaune Santos<strong>**<\/strong>) \u2014\u00a0Essay based on\u00a0<em>Mr. Terupt<\/em>\u00a0by Rob Buyea<\/li>\n<li><strong>Second place:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/14fPfeKBBG2ao0Bqiq6a-SmH-HoA8j6B_\/view?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minahil Farooqi<\/a>,\u00a0Edwin O. Smith High School, Storrs (Teacher \u2013 Amy Nocton* **) \u2014\u00a0Essay based on\u00a0<em>I Am Malala<\/em>\u00a0by Malala Yousafzai<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>*<\/strong>\u00a0Affiliated with CWP<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>**<\/strong>\u00a0UConn alumna\/us<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_21680\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21680\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-21680 img-responsive lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1621\/2018\/03\/29497408_10155394293671765_2593746731627708416_o-400x267.jpg\" alt=\"Letters About Literature Contest Judging\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/267;\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21680\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students in the Neag School and Department of English judged the 120 Letter About Literature contest 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). (Photo Credit: Shawn Kornegay\/Neag School)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Thank you again to the Neag School\u2019s and CWP\u2019s contest judges, who are current students in either the Neag School of Education Integrated Bachelor\u2019s\/Master\u2019s program or in the Department of English:<\/p>\n<p>Rhianna Bennett<br \/>\nAndrea Cuadrado<br \/>\nPeter Dovidaitis<br \/>\nNicole Gerardin<br \/>\nKatie Grant<br \/>\nAmethyst Hamby<br \/>\nSarah Hoag<br \/>\nTommy Jacobsen<br \/>\nShane Luery<br \/>\nMarisa Macek<br \/>\nMegan O\u2019Connor<br \/>\nShelby Phipps<br \/>\nJill Power<br \/>\nSadie Robinson<br \/>\nRachel Ruiz<br \/>\nGabby Strain<br \/>\nClarissa Tan<br \/>\nEmily Turin<br \/>\nSamantha White<br \/>\nKim Yrayta<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/media\/set\/?set=a.10155394293371765.1073742129.54435971764&amp;type=1&amp;l=7c3e09fa5a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Check out photos from the Letters About Literature judging day<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Neag School of Education, the UConn Department of English, and the Connecticut Writing Project (CWP) at UConn are proud to announce Connecticut\u2019s winners of the 25th 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":0,"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-201212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","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":"2026-06-01 13:38:36","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\/201212","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=201212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201213,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201212\/revisions\/201213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201212"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=201212"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=201212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}