The judging is complete and we have selected the winning stories for the 14th Annual Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest for New Hampshire Public Television. >> Full list of winners

Most Stories Ever!

We had 1008 entries this year, a 45% increase over last year. Here's how the entries broke down by grade:
Kindergarten - 118 entries
First Grade - 156 entries
Second Grade - 206 entries
Third Grade - 259 entries
Fourth Grade - 166 entries
Fifth Grade - 103 entries

Here, There and Everywhere!

Where did our stories come from? Here are the top 10 cities by number of entries submitted:
1. Bedford, NH - 64 entries, 5 winning stories
2. Andover, MA - 53 entries, 6 winning stories
3. Milton NH - 52 entries, 2 winning stories
4. Fremont, NH - 48 entries, 1 winning story
5. Manchester, NH - 47 entries, 9 winning stories
6. Marblehead, MA - 41 entries, 5 winning stories
7. Dover, NH - 39 entries, 0 winning stories
8. Barrington, NH - 31 entries, 3 winning stories
9. Rochester, NH - 30 entries, 1 winning story
10. Concord, NH - 27 entries, 2 winning stories

How the Stories Were Judged

Stories were judged on the quality of both the writing and the illustrations. The judging panel was made up of local writers, educators, librarians, and NHPTV staff. All winning stories will be placed on our Reading Rainbow Contest website in the next few weeks.

Return of Stories

All stories will be returned to the authors, along with a certificate of achievement signed by LeVar Burton, in the next few weeks. Honorable mention stories may be kept by NHPTV for a little longer as we work to put them up on the website. Second and third place stories will be kept until the awards ceremony in June. The first place stories at grades K-3 will be sent on to represent NHPTV at the national level where they will compete with stories from over 100 other public TV stations. NHPTV has had five national winners since 2000. Be sure to check out the past winning stories.

Contact me by phone (603-868-4354) or email if you have any questions!

The READING RAINBOW'S YOUNG WRITERS & ILLUSTRATORS CONTEST is part of NHPTV's commitment to promoting literacy and a love of reading, writing, and creative expression in children. The contest runs from January-March every year.