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WXEL NAMES 12 YOUNG AUTHORS AS LOCAL WINNERS OF PBS KIDS GO! WRITERS CONTEST Annual Competition Fosters Reading, Writing and Creativity; Local Winners Advance to National Finals SLIDESHOW OF WINNERS EVENT BELOW! Special thanks to parents and teachers for their support! We hope to read more wonderful stories from all of you next year, if you are in grades K-3. WXEL encourages you to keep reading and writing and have confidence that you will achieve your goals in life, remember that the more you practice, the better you will become. May 3, 2010, Boynton Beach, FL - WXEL has selected 12 local winners of the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest, which encourages children grades K-3 in communities across the country to celebrate the power of writing and illustrating by submitting their own original storybooks.  The winners were chosen from among 127 local entrants by a panel of local judges including Gloria Allin, After School Reads - Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County; Karen Abramson, Boynton Beach City Library; Kelly Rowland, Executive Director - S.B. Idea, Inc.; Roxanne Birney, Author/Founder, J & J Nurturing Company. WXEL, with support from Schoolhouse Children’s Museum, BulkCandyStore.com and COOLreadings.com ; was one of 87 public television stations participating in this year’s Contest, which was designed to promote the advancement of children’s reading skills through hands-on, active learning.  Contest entries are first judged at the local level, after which local winners advance to the national competition where a panel of renowned judges will identify the national winners.  Winners will be announced and national prizes, including laptops, digital cameras and MP3 players, will be awarded in summer 2010. KINDERGARTEN First Place: “Parchy and Her Friends” by Briony W., Sebastian Click Here to View Briony's Winning Entry! Second Place: “Chip's Day Out” by Danny H., Plantation Third Place: “The Swamp Friends” by Charlie O., Clewiston FIRST GRADE First Place: “How to Get Rid of the Shy Bugs” by Andre G., Port St Lucie Click Here to View Andre's Winning Entry! Second Place: “The Mermaid That Got A Tail”by Destiny R., Palm Beach Gardens Third Place: “Plants of the Everglades” by Kamari I., Miramar SECOND GRADE First Place: “Harry Helps Out” by Brenden L., Boynton Beach Click Here to View Brenden's Winning Entry! Second Place: “The Princess and the Unicorn” by Liel S., Wellington Third Place: “The Fly Who Changed My Life” by Tommy M., Jupiter THIRD GRADE First Place: “Day at the Zoo” by Serena B., Boca Raton  Click Here to View Serena's Winning Entry! Second Place: “Mission to Mars” by Jacob A., Delray Beach Third Place: “Undercover” by Anam A., Wellington “Congratulations to the 12 local winners as well as to all of the children who entered the contest along with their parents and teachers from the more than 50 schools which participated,” said Bernie Henneberg, Pres. & CEO of WXEL TV/FM. “In telling their stories, all participants demonstrated their unique talents and learned from the process.” Each child who entered the Contest received a Certificate of Achievement. The winning authors will also receive a tote bag filled with books, school supplies, DVD’s and more at the Winners Celebration on Friday,  May 21th, 2010 at Schoolhouse Children’s Museum located in the City of Boynton Beach. Plus the chance to share his/her story with everyone he/she knows on CoolReadings! COOLreadings.com is a product of a fun family collaboration dedicated to promoting Reading & Speaking by showcasing online videos of children (of all ages) reading and sharing their favorite children's books on a safe family oriented website they’ll have the chance to upload their own video on CoolReadings! COOLreadings.com will reward our winning authors by recording and hosting them reading their own stories. To sweeten the reward, our friends at BulkCandyStore.com will also be presenting each winning author with a prize of candy treats. “Research has shown that writing plays a key role in the development of early literacy skills,” said Marlene Figueroa Ross, M.Ed., WXEL’s Director of Community Affairs.  “The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest leverages the reach and resources of public media to encourage kids to tap into these important skills.  Judging from the response we received, it is apparent that the children are indeed eager for these resources and this type of platform.” www.wxel.org/kidswritingcontest.html  A sampling of winning stories can be found on the Contest Web site, located at ReadyToLearnReading.org.  The Web site also features information for parents and teachers as well as interactive user-generated content for kids. Produced by WNED-TV, Buffalo/Toronto and PBS, the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest is a part of PBS KIDS Raising Readers, a national initiative that uses the power of public media to build the reading skills of children ages 2 to 8, with an emphasis on children from low-income families.  The effort is funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, part of a cooperative agreement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), PBS and The Ready To Learn Partnership. WXEL 2010 - Contest Summary Briony invite us to a colorful world with pink clouds and magic flower and where “Patchy” finds out that when you are surrounded with good friends you can overcome problems and find our way home; Danny share with us a heartwarming True story about every kid most loyal friend (her/his) stuffed animal and how it came back home to live happily ever after. Charlie present a remarkable story about how some time our friends can help us find  confidence in ourselves and how that gives us the power to become heroes; Andre creative story is dedicated to all children who don’t want to be shy where he gives us the 3 steps to get rid of the shy bug (1)stand firmly (2)breath deep and (3)spray yourself all over with the confidence spray; Destiny’s simple lovely story tell us how much fun we can have we the right person the one which you can identify yourself with; Kamari amuse us with a cheerful story teaching all of us about the wonderful plants that we have here at home at our amazing everglades; Once more Brendan with his unbelievable illustrations tells us a story with funny rhymes about friends who help one another; Liel story take us on a beautiful journey to recover the stolen toys from an unfriendly leprechaun; Tommy bring us a fantastic story where a lovely frog conquers his dreams to fly and shows every body that following your dreams pays off; Serena’s day at the zoo is a smart and fascinating poem that teaches us about the amazing animals that we can find at the zoo; Jacob takes us in an amazing adventure into space where he transforms his shuttle into a house and a Martian into his mascot, his story is filled with fun and intelligent wording; Anam’s quest make us witness to a story where a group of very fashion savvy friends become detectives to find out that one of their mascot was the infamous thief. By Samantha Conde, WXEL’s Education Specialist For more information about the contest please contact Samantha Conde, WXEL Education Specialist at 561.737-8000 ext. 4466 or e-mail education@wxel.org.