If you are in grades K-5 and like to write and draw, pick up those pencils! We want to hear your best stories. WHRO Public Media invites kindergarten through 5th grade students to create a great story, illustrate it and enter it in the PBS KIDS Writers Contest. Stories can be fact or fiction, poetry or prose, and will be judged on originality, creative expression, storytelling and integration of illustrations.
Student entries can be submitted in either the general or environmental category. The general category encourages students to write and draw whatever they would like, letting their imaginations run wild. For the environmental category, students create an innovative story with an environmental topic or theme. Students can write about recycling, climate change or preserving nature, for example. This category was added to the contest in 2018 as part of WHRO’s Batten Environmental Education Initiative.
This is the 30th year of our annual writing contest, and we expect to receive many great stories! Be sure to get yours entered before the deadline. Stories are due by March 28.
All students entering the contest receive a special PBS KIDS Certificate. First-place and second-place winners will be selected in each grade level for each category. Additionally, many of the PBS KIDS Writers Contest stories are also featured on Ms. Martha Reads, a WHRO production that airs new episodes Fridays at 10 a.m. on Facebook.
WHRO recognizes the importance of allowing students to use their storytelling talents to spark creativity and develop critical thinking and written communication skills. We look forward to reading this year’s great stories!
Don’t wait to get started! The entry deadline is March 28.
Find the entry form and contest rules at whro.org/writerscontest.
View Photos from the Awards Ceremony Last Year
The PBS KIDS Writers and Illustrators Contest was created by PBS and was originally 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.
WHRO is proudly owned by the 21 school divisions in the southeastern Virginia region. Learn more about the many educational resources that WHRO Public Media provides to educators and families.
Read about all of WHRO's student competitions.