Published: May 14, 2008 02:39 pm            

Local youth’s story receives regional honor

By PAUL LORENZ

paul.lorenz@mcleansborotimesleader.com

McLEANSBORO — In all likelihood, a lot of 6-year-olds probably help their parents with their garden.

But Camryn Parker wrote about it — and received regional recognition for her work.

Parker, daughter of David and Jennifer Parker of McLeansboro, received an honorable mention for her story “My Garden” in the 14th annual Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Contest.

“We plant a garden every year, and she is a big help with it,” Jennifer Parker said of her daughter. “She chose to write her story about planting a garden. She also loves to draw and paint, so the illustration part of the book was really fun for her.”

The annual writing contest encourages area children in kindergarten through third grade to create their own stories, according to information from WSIU Public Television in Carbondale, one of the contest sponsors.

WSIU received 261 entries from children across Southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri and southwestern Indiana; judges selected one first-place and one honorable-mention winner from each age group — kindergarten, first grade, second grade and third grade.

Camryn, a kindergartner, is home-schooled by her mother.

“We are all thrilled to have Camryn’s story picked for one of the top awards,” Jennifer said. “We encouraged her to give it a try and told her she had just as good of a chance as anyone. I don't think she quite believed us at first, but I think she is a believer now.

“I told her it was quite an honor to have the very first book you have ever written to be picked for an award,” she added.

First place in the contest’s kindergarten age group went to Jonah Wiggins of Murray, Ky., for his story “Brown Pelican’s Adventure.” The contest’s other top honorees hail from Carbondale, Makanda, Herrin, Marion and Radom.

More than 40,000 entries were submitted nationwide, WSIU’s news release said. Stories were judged based on originality, writing style, illustrations and overall concept.

The first-place entries in the local contest were forwarded to the national Reading Rainbow story contest.

Local honorees were recognized at a ceremony April 26 at Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, Mt. Vernon, another sponsor of the contest. At the ceremony, they received a Reading Rainbow backpack containing a T-shirt, videos, books and other prizes.

WSIU will post the stories of first place and honorable mention winners online at www.wsiu.org and will invite honorees to record their stories for broadcast on WSIU Public Radio later this spring and summer, the news release said.

The Parkers are expecting a call regarding the radio broadcast, but had not yet been contacted as of Friday, Jennifer said.

Cedarhurst hosted a public exhibit of the winning stories in its children’s museum through May 10.

Old National Bank also was a sponsor of the local contest.

        

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