PRESS RELEASE:

Kindergarten through third graders are invited to write and illustrate original storybooks and enter them in KUED's 15th Annual Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Contest. Sponsored by the award-winning PBS television series Reading Rainbow, the Contest attracts more than 400 local participants and more than 40,000 entries nationally each year. Kindergarten through third graders enter the Contest by creating an original story with illustrations and submitting it with an official entry form to KUED. Rules and entry forms for the Young Writers & Illustrators Contest are available at www.kued.org/rainbow.

"We're always delighted by the very creative stories young children create," says Mary Dickson, KUED Creative Services director. "The Contest is a wonderful way to promote writing skills and spark the imagination, which is one of our goals for young viewers."

Airing weekdays on KUED-Channel 7, Reading Rainbow builds lasting friendships between children and books. The Contest builds on the program's mission to encourage a child's love of books and reading.

Every child who enters the Contest receives a special Certificate of Achievement. Local prizes include Reading Rainbow backpacks, DVD's, and more. Four winners will be named in each grade category. All 16 local winners' stories will be showcased on the KUED Reading Rainbow Web site, www.kued.org/rainbow. Local first-place winners will also advance to the national competition.

National prizes are awarded to three winning stories in each grade. This year, national prizes include Flat Panel TV with DVD Player (Grand Prize), Digital Camera (2nd place), and MP3 Player (3rd place). Each national winner also receives three READING RAINBOW library sets (5 DVDs and books) for home, school and library. In addition, national winning stories are featured on pbskids.org, one of the most-visited national Web sites for children. To read previous national winning stories, as well as a sample of local submissions, visit http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/.

Now in its 26th season on PBS, Reading Rainbow has garnered more than 250 awards, including 26 Emmys (10 for "Outstanding Children's Series"), a prestigious Peabody, nine CINE Golden Eagles, nine Parents' Choice Awards, and six international Prix Jeunesse Awards.

Reading Rainbow is a registered trademark of WNED-TV, Buffalo and is co-produced by WNED-TV, Buffalo and Smarterville Productions LLC. Support for READING RAINBOW has been provided by Country Inns & Suites by Carlson Inc. and The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.

For more details contact Poonam Kumar, KUED Community Outreach assistant at 801-581-6163, or e-mail her at pkumar@kued.org.

National sponsors for the Reading Rainbow 15th Annual Young Writers & Illustrators Contest include Western New York Public Broadcasting Association (WNED-TV) and Smarterville Productions LLC. National funding is provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and the Country Inn & Suites by Carlson.

KUED's READING RAINBOW COMPETITION is funded in part by the Ready to Learn initiative which is made possible by the Sorenson Legacy Foundation, the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, the R. Burton Foundation, United Way of Salt Lake, Qwest, and U.S. Bank.

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