On May 9^th, we will welcome twelve of the area’s most creative young minds into our studio for the 2014 WHRO Young Storytellers Awards Show, an event that congratulates local children for writing and illustrating their own original stories.

This year marks the twentieth year WHRO has held a writers and illustrators contest for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.  The contest’s name has changed over the years, from the Reading Rainbow to the PBS Kids Writers Contest, but it’s purpose has always been the same: to cultivate a love for reading and writing in children through their imaginations.

This certainly held true for one of our former winners who is now a published author.  In 2009, Erin Campbell won our contest as a fifth grader with her story Into the Cavern.  It’s an adventurous tale about her family’s visit to a national park, and Erin credits our contest for encouraging her to continue writing ever since.

Now in her sophomore year of high school, Erin has written nearly 50 novels, short stories, poems and plays.  Gemini, her first published novel, has already sold over 100 copies.  It’s the first book in a fictional series she has entitled the Post Humana Chronicles, which will feature at least three other stories, two of which she has already written.

We’d like to congratulate Erin, and all of our winners from over the past twenty years, for their accomplishments.  Next month, we will feature our new 2014 winners and their stories on our website.  To learn more about our writers contest and watch past Young Storytellers Awards Shows, please visit the Writers Contest page.