WHRO Public Media invites Kindergarten through 5th grade students to create a great story, illustrate it and enter it in our PBS KIDS Writers and Illustrators Contest which begins January 2024 and ends Friday, March 22, 2024. Students can write about any topic of their choice such as friendship, kindness, their family, or something that they like, just to name a few. Or…students can choose to write an environmental story for an opportunity to win the Batten Environmental Education Award: suggested topics taken from K-5 Science SOLs in Environmental Literacy include: natural resources, recycling, conservation, habitat, land, air, water, animals, earth, plants, forest, fossils, and energy sources.

The 2024 contest starts January 2024 and the deadline for entries is March 22, 2024.
Download the Entry Form and Rules [PDF]

Please send entries to:
WHRO's PBS KIDS Writers Contest
5200 Hampton Boulevard
Norfolk, VA 23508

All students entering the contest will receive a special PBS KIDS Certificate. A first place and second place winner will be named in each grade level.  Winners and their families will be invited to WHRO Public Media for a celebration of the WHRO Young Storytellers awards program. We appreciate your help getting students involved with this fun and creative contest!

• Contest aligns with Virginia Standards of Learning writing requirements: K.12; 1.13; 2.12; 3.9; 4.7; and 5.7.
• Helps develop 21st Century Skills including critical thinking, personal initiative, effective written communication, curiosity and imagination.

The PBS KIDS Writers and Illustrators Contest was created by PBS and was ordinally funded in part by a Ready To Learn grant, in a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Today, WHRO Public Media sponsors and produces our current local contest.

The contents of these contest rules were developed under a grant, #PRU295B050003, from the Department of Education. However, those contents do not represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.