Write to your Favorite Author

Columbia, S.C. - Young readers in grades 4-12 are invited to write a personal letter to an author for the Letters about Literature (LAL) contest, a national reading and writing promotion program. The letter can be to any author (living or dead) from any genre (fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic) explaining how that author's work changed the student's life or view of the world.

The 23rd annual writing contest for young readers is made possible by a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, with additional support from gifts to the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with the South Carolina Center for the Book and the South Carolina State Library with financial support from the South Carolina State Library Foundation.

Prizes will be awarded on both the state and national levels. The South Carolina Center for the Book's panel of judges will select the top letter writers in the state, to be honored in an awards ceremony on April 29, 2016. Their winning letters will be published online at the South Carolina Center for the Book's website. South Carolina winners will also receive monetary prizes, and then advance to the national judging.

South Carolina winners will receive $100 for first place, $50 for second place, and $25 for third place in each level. For more information and entry forms, please visit www.read.gov/letters. Last year's South Carolina winners may be found at the ReadSC.org website.

Submissions from Grades 4-8 must be postmarked by January 11, 2016.