Emily N.M.E., who placed second among third graders in this year's Reading Rainbow contest, discussed the pros and cons of being The Middle Child. For instance: "Besides that, I can learn from my older sister Megan´s mistakes. If she tries to do something and it turns out to be a complete disaster then I know not to do it."
Kids’ contest lives on,
after Rainbow’s end
PBS will pick up where Reading Rainbow left off, launching a new annual writing and drawing contest for children in cahoots with public TV stations around the country. Buffalo, N.Y.-based WNED, the series co-producer for 26 years, will produce and co-sponsor the new PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest.
Even though Reading Rainbow’s production had slowed to a halt several years ago and public TV broadcasts ended Aug. 28, (Current, Aug. 6), the show’s Young Writers and Illustrators Contest had some 40,000 kids writing and illustrating stories at the local and national levels last year. About 100 PBS-member stations took part in 2008.
Between Nov. 23 and Jan. 5, stations can sign up to participate with the contest. PBS will discuss plans in conference calls Jan. 8, 10 and 16, before national publicity, including new broadcast spots, begins Jan. 27. Winners of stations’ local contests early in the year will be entered in the national competition by April 23. National winners will be picked by a new jury of educators and notables; top winners will receive laptops and gadgets next summer.
Though the name is new, the rules will remain the same.
"The stories are just as much fun as published books," wrote Gina Montefusco, a Raising Readers specialist, after checking out last year's winners.
"There's Michaela's tale of a nearsighted caterpillar (I can relate, at least to the bad vision), Rachel's industrious spider, Ethan's brave exploration of his mother's purse, and Abigail's tear-jerker "Finding Grandpa," Montefusco wrote in in blog on the PBS Parents site. "And that's only a sampling. All the stories are well worth your time, and I bet you'll be as blown away as I was by the creativity and imagination of the kids."
Web page posted Nov. 4, 2009
Copyright 2009 by Current LLC
