The state winners in the three age categories are:

Level I, grades 4-6

• First Place, Ella Hanson, Conrad Christian School, Conrad, for her letter to Jean Merrill, author of The Toothpaste Millionaire
• Second Place, Hailey Giles, Whitefish Middle School, Whitefish, for her letter to Cynthia Lord, author of Rules
• Third Place, Mackenzie George, Meadow Lark Elementary, Great Falls, for her letter to Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games trilogy

Level II, grades 7-8

• First Place, Sarah Ward, Bigfork Middle School, Bigfork, for her letter to Katherine Hannigan, author of Ida B.
• Second Place, Ben Roeder, Greenfield School, Fairfield, for his letter to Bryan Davis, author of The Bones of Makaidos
• Third Place, Karlie Keller, Hysham Public, Hysham, for her letter to Sharon Creech, author of Two Moons

Level III, grades 9-12

• First Place, Jaylen Country, Poplar High School, Poplar, for his letter to Sophocles, author of Oedipus the King
• Second Place, Michelle Mullowney, Billings West High School, Billings, for her letter to Daniel Keyes, author of Flowers for Algernon
• Third Place – tie, Geneva Copeland, Billings West High School, Billings, for her letter to Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes
• Third Place – tie, Taree’an Tuttle, Poplar High School, Poplar, for her letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson, author of the essay “Self-Reliance”

Judges selected the winning entries from 462 submissions statewide in three separate age categories. To enter, young readers write personal letters to authors explaining how their work changed their views of the world or themselves. Readers selected authors from any genre—from fiction or nonfiction, contemporary to classic. The program has three competition levels: upper elementary, middle school and secondary. The contest theme encourages young readers to explore their responses to a book and then express those responses in a creative, original way. Montana finalists each receive a cash prize, and state first-place winners each receive a $50 gift card to Target Stores. First-place winners also were entered in the national contest.

This year’s LAL state judges were English Professor Penny Hughes-Briant at The University of Great Falls, Missoula author Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, Professor of English Emeritus Sharon Beehler at MSU-Bozeman, and Humanities Montana Program Assistant Samantha Dwyer. Guidelines for the 2013 Letters About Literature program will be posted in August on the Humanities Montana website.

Guidelines for the 2013 Letters About Literature program will be posted in mid- to late-August on this website. For more information, including free teaching resources to guide students through the reader response and writing process, visit the program website at www.lettersaboutliterature.org. Humanities Montana salutes school children, parents, school librarians and teachers across the state for their enthusiasm for literature and the humanities through Letters About Literature.

Re. Letters About Literature...

"Your writing program...has taken on a value far greater than any single assignment. It facilitates a powerful reading/writing connection, it opens doors to many valuable conversations in our classroom about personal experience and the way we see the world."