We would like to congratulate our 39 Authors and Illustrators who won publication in the 2011 I Write Short Stories by Kids for Kids Anthology! All of our winners were recognized at the annual Book Signing Celebration on December 3rd at the Houston Public Library.

They received awards of excellence and their first copy of very own book to autograph amongst family, friends and the community.

The  afternoon was filled with excitement as everyone received prizes, giveaways, and artwork from illustrator, Ryan Shaw!    

Our students autographed their stories and our illustrators autographed their illustration page until their hands hurt!  

Chase autographing for his family and fans!

Dakota writing a special message in each of his books!

One of our Star Authors, Leila Sun signing away!

Read3Zero President Melissa Williams with Cover Artist Melissa Martin

Our 6 Star Authors even read a portion of their story before the audience!

Read3Zero also awarded our two year winners Sarah Young and Daniel Yohe (9th graders) Summer Internships!

Two of our students represented the 2011 Anthology on Fox 26 Morning News! 

The afternoon ended with cake, goodies and a HUGE raffle for all of our guests. Items donated this year included Albums from local musician Misha Williams, Books and Stuffed Animals from Children’s Author Melissa M. Williams and autographed artwork from Illustrator Ryan Shaw!

Congratulations to all of our winners this year! We are so proud of you! Books are available NOW on AMAZON and BARNES and NOBLE websites!

Would you like to be a READ3Zero Sponsor?

We are now taking donations to go toward our Elementary School Fundraiser which will provide FREE I Write 2011 Anthologies to the students at one of our local title one schools. If you would like to nominate a school or get involved please let me know. Our goal is to raise $2000 before the end of the school year to cover the free books.

2011 WINNERS:

Front Cover Artist:

Melissa Martin-8th grade

Back Cover Artists:

Girija Chatufale-7th grade

Jax Collum-5th grade

Hannah Guilfoyle-5th grade

Alexandria Pattison-5th grade

Elias Pierce-5th grade

Authors:

SHORT STORY DIVISION

3rd Grade:

Shivani Tripathi

4th Grade:

Georgia Aleixo

Avinash Dayanand

Reagan Dennison

Emily Green

Emilie Hammons

Nathan Sagar Jacob

Madison Kempf

Harrison Kummer

Ruby Moore

Leo Pillai

Evelyn Taylor

Elian Tee

Dakota Widenor

Kevin Yu

5th Grade:

Macailey Harvey

Caitlin Hsu

Claire Jones

Kaylinn Smokoski

Leila Sun

Elise Willsey

Jennifer Woolcock

6th Grade:

Jan Tee

Megan Thunell

7th Grade:

Chase Greer

Logan Hibbeler

Shannon Kummer

Morgan Mayer

Alice Niu

Ellaine Tee

8th Grade:

Daniel Yohe

Sarah Young

POETRY DIVISION

Alexys Hill Together We Can

Shivani Tripathi I Have a Dozen Pets

Sarah Young Hope, The Fog

NOTE: If you would like to apply for the summer deadline, please contact Melissa for requirements.

Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to win a publishing spot in the I Write Book! Click the I Write Link or the I Poetry Link for entry forms and rules.

The Book Signing Event was filled with excitement as each one of our stars shared a section of their work in front of hundreds of proud parents, family members, friends, teachers, principals, photographers, press, and school district heads.

The winners of the Anthology submitted their work back in March of 2010 and had until May to finish their edits and resubmit their work for publication, just like real authors and illustrators in the professional industry. We treated our finalists very seriously, as it is Read3Zero’s goal to give our students insight behind the writing industry.

Many of our winners took extra time to study the writing industry and attend Read3Zero Creative Writing Workshops to improve their art and skill.

After the celebration with food, cake, prizes, and applauds, all of our authors and illustrators gathered together behind their tables with signing pens in hand and autographed hundreds of books.

One of my favorite quotes from the day was hearing, ” These were the best three hours of my life!” from one of our fellow authors. Our winners worked very hard and deserved to be treated like stars … which is why they got a Red Carpet!

A few of our authors worked together as co-authors to produce a story as a team. Way to go girls!

Hundreds a fans waited “patiently” to get their autographs!

This is something we at Read3Zero call the organized chaos of being an author.

Thank you to everyone who made this event a success. Our volunteers, our sponsors, the School at St. George Place for hosting, the Houston Chronicle and Sugar Land Magazine, and of course to all of our winners and their families.

It is such an amazing experience to be a part of the lives of so many talented and positive people. It is our goal at Read3Zero to influence a positive sense of self-esteem in our youth to enjoy literacy, creativity, and learning. Thank you for encouraging our future! If you would like to be a part of the 2011 publication, please visit the I Write Link on our website.

Sincerely,

Read3Zero

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The 2010 “I Write” short-story cover design winners have been announced! Click HERE to view the two cover design winners and their amazing artwork!!!