The Neag School of Education is proud to announce Connecticut’s winners of the 23rd 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 students in Grades 4-12; 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: Aleema Kelly, CREC Montessori Magnet School, Hartford, Conn. — Essay based on George by Alex Gino
- Second place: Rhiana Boutot, Pleasant Valley Elementary, Groton, Conn. — Essay based on Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Level II (Grades 7-8)
- First place: En-Hua C. Holtz, East Lyme Middle School, East Lyme, Conn. — Essay based on Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- Second place: Charlotte Watts, Sage Park Middle School, Windsor, Conn. — Essay based on Someone Named Eva by J.M. Wolf
Level III (Grades 9-12)
- First place: Julia Tofan, RHAM High School, Hebron, Conn. — Essay based on “Still I Rise,” by Maya Angelou
- Second place: Rachel Horowitz-Benoit, E.O. Smith High School, Storrs, Conn. — Essay based on Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
Thank you to the Neag School’s contest judges:
- Ashley Bernardo
- Victoria Breen
- Emma Czaplinski
- Gigi DiGiuseppe
- Sarah Falcetti
- Hillary Gannon
- Ricki Ginsberg
- Wendy Glenn
- Sara Goss
- Brittany Handahl
- Barbara Jennes
- Danielle King
- Kaleigh Kupstis
- Kaitlin Murphy
- Rebecca Pite