PRESS RELEASE:

KUED has announced the winners for the KUED PBS KIDS KIDS GO! Writers Contest. All first place winners from Utah will be entered into the national PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest, where they will compete against area winners from across the country.

First place winners of the KUED 7 PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest are: Hannah Rowley, kindergarten; Ethan Scott, first grade; Kaylee Rowley, second grade; Aarushi Verma, third grade; Jonathan Henningson, fourth grade; Michael Sell, fifth grade; and Sage Sutcliffe, sixth grade.

Second place winners are: Ydsan Saavedra, kindergarten; Anika Hoechst, first grade; Mersadies Berger, second grade; Anne Choate, third grade; Ezekiel Micheel, fourth grade; Kate De Groote, fifth grade; and Olivia Gavin, sixth grade.

Third place winners are: Kate Nelson, kindergarten; Isabella Hogue, first grade; David Sell, second grade; Willow Edwards, third grade; Sydney Spurck, fourth grade; Maggie Scott, fifth grade; and Kirsten Lowe, sixth grade.

Coming in fourth place are: Aspen Wardle, kindergarten; Robert Cope, first grade; Isabella Brooks, second grade; Kjerstin Cope, third grade; Mora Seme, fourth grade; Rylee Mathews, fifth grade; and Samantha Sullivan, sixth grade.

The KUED contest, sponsored by Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum, Ballet West, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, West States Theatres, Ogden Nature Center, Clark Planetarium, and Natural History Museum of Utah, encourages children in grades K-6 to celebrate the power of language and creativity by creating and submitting original stories and illustrations. KUED was one of 63 public television stations across the country that participated in this year’s contest.

“Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all of the children who sent their stories to KUED,” says KUED General Manager Michael Dunn. “We at KUED 7 were pleased to bring this opportunity to celebrate young writers in Utah. The many incredible entries we received during the KUED PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest demonstrates the impact of KUED 7 and PBS KIDS’ shared commitment to opening up worlds of words for all young children in our community and across the country.”

The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest is produced annually by PBS KIDS and is a part of PBS KIDS Raising Readers, a national initiative that uses the power of public media to build the reading skills of children ages two to eight.