The Neag School of Education is proud to announce Connecticut’s winners of the 24th annual Letters About Literature contest, a nationwide writing contest sponsored by the Library of Congress for elementary, middle, and high school students.

This fall, the Neag School served as the contest’s Connecticut sponsor for the 2016-17 academic year; Professor Wendy Glenn is the contest’s faculty representative for the state of Connecticut.

Winners from each state for each of contest’s three categories (Grades 4-6, Grades 7-8, and Grades 9-12) will receive a cash prize and state recognition,  and will then advance to the national competition, for which winners will be chosen later this month. Read more about the contest here, and click the winners’ names below to read their winning essays.

Congratulations to the winners for the state of Connecticut:

Level I (Grades 4-6)

• First place: Casey Campellone, CREC Montessori Magnet School, Hartford, Conn. — Essay based on March 1, 2, & 3 by John Lewis
• Second place: Winston Lee, Thompson Brook School, Avon, Conn. — Essay based on The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Level II (Grades 7-8)

• First place: Hope McCann, Sage Park Middle School, Windsor, Conn. — Essay based on Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
• Second place: Araya Miller, Sage Park Middle School, Windsor, Conn. — Essay based on The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Level III (Grades 9-12)

• First place: Maggie Veronesi, RHAM High School, Hebron, Conn. — Essay based on All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque
• Second place: Nicholas Vollero, Notre Dame High School, Avon, Conn. — Essay based on To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Thank you again to the Neag School’s contest judges:

• Alex Bottelsen
• Brenna Conrad
• Kellie-Anne Crane
• Jack Dunn
• Wendy Glenn
• Lara Hawley
• Andrew Johnson
• Danielle King
• Kelly Markle