presents the...

WQED has selected 18 students as western Pennsylvania winners of the EQT Corporation Presents: PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest. The contest encourages children grades K-3 to celebrate the power of writing and illustrating by submitting their own original storybooks. The winners were chosen from among 800 local entrants by a panel of judges including WQED education, interactive, membership, marketing, and sales staff members.

Contest entries were first judged at the local level. Those winners advance to the national competition, where a panel of renowned judges will select the national winners. The national winners will be announced, and prizes, including laptops, digital cameras and MP3 players, will be awarded by PBS later this summer. Each child who entered the Contest received a Certificate of Achievement. The winning local authors also received DVDs, books, art supplies and Barnes & Noble gift cards, courtesy of WQED and EQT Corporation.

This year's winners created stories featuring tales of fish, birds and Leprechauns.

KINDERGARTEN
First Place: A Bird Spoke to Me by Owen Kagle, Bridgeville
Second Place: The Pigeon Wants to Fly to Space! by Ella Slagle, South Hills
Third Place: Changing Days by Mayan Harris-Gershon, Squirrel Hill
Honorable Mention: Bony the Skeleton Fish by Michael LaPoint, Cranberry
Queen's Choice: The Little Rainbow by Addilae "Addi" Watts, South Park

FIRST GRADE
First Place: Dealing With the Monsters by Micah Dordal, Penn Hills
Second Place: The Fish Who Made a Wish by Katie Heidenreich, Aspinwall
Third Place: The Mystery of the Golden Bug by Daniel Trimble, Brookline
Honorable Mention: Dandylion Wishes by Madeline Grote, Scottdale

SECOND GRADE
First Place: If I Were a Bird by Ashley Chung, Sewickley
Second Place: The Wild Turtle Chase by Kiran Kling, Oakland
Third Place: The Amazing Faith and Her Adventures by Karenna Lee, Squirrel Hill
Honorable Mention: The Tale of the Easter Leprechaun by Rachel Howard, Shippenville

THIRD GRADE
First Place: Tim Sails a Lesson by Christine Troll, Somerset
Second Place: Animalympics by Theresa Heidenreich, Aspinwall
Third Place: Princess Grace and the Magic Kingdom by Cyrus Jordan Fant, Uniontown, R.W. Clark Elementary
Honorable Mention: The Big Dance by Kaitlyn Geil, Pleasant Hills
Queen's Choice: Wonderful Things About the Ocean by Noelle DiSilvio, Squirrel Hill, Minadeo Elementary

WQED, with support from EQT Corporation, was one of 87 public television stations nationwide participating in this year's contest, which was designed to promote the advancement of children's reading skills through hands-on, active learning.

"Research has shown that writing plays a key role in the development of early literacy skills," said Jennifer Stancil, WQED executive director of educational partnerships. "The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest leverages the reach and resources of public media to encourage kids to tap into these important skills. Judging from the response we received, it is apparent that the children are indeed eager for these resources and this type of platform."

Produced by WNED-TV, Buffalo/Toronto and PBS, the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest is a part of PBS KIDS Raising Readers, a national initiative that uses the power of public media to build the reading skills of children ages 2 to 8, with an emphasis on children from low-income families. The effort is funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, part of a cooperative agreement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), PBS and The Ready To Learn Partnership.