Few things capture a child’s imagination like a good book.  Now, North Carolina children have a chance to create their own literary works with the tenth annual Young Writers and Illustrators Contest sponsored by the children’s show Reading Rainbow and UNC-TV. 

UNC-TV invites children to put on their creative hats and submit their original stories.  North Carolina children in kindergarten through third grade will join kids nationwide in writing and illustrating their own original tales for the contest.  Contest deadline is March 12, 2004. 

The UNC-TV stories are judged locally, and the first-place winner of each grade will be sent to the national competition.  The first-place winners and the runners-up for each grade will also be featured on UNC-TV during our children’s programming.  Each child who enters the contest will receive a certificate bearing the signature of Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton.  Winners will receive a surprise visit from UNC-TV’s book-loving kangaroo mascot Read-a-roo with balloons and a box full of prizes.

In the 2003 contest, nearly 450 North Carolina students submitted stories to UNC-TV.  Nationwide more than 43,000 children, representing 104 public broadcasting stations, entered the contest last year.

Reading Rainbow, an awarding winning children’s program stressing the importance of reading, airs weekdays on UNC-TV at 12:30 PM.

For more information or to receive an entry form and the contest guidelines, call the Just For Kids Hotline at 877-Kids-4TV (877-543-7488) or email justforkids@unctv.org.  Entry forms are also available on the Just for Kids website at unctv.org/kids

UNC-TV is North Carolina’s member supported, 11-station statewide television network, committed to using telecommunications wisely and imaginatively to inform, educate, and enrich all North Carolinians.

—UNC-TV—