UNC-TV WINNER AWARDED GRAND PRIZE AT NATIONAL READING RAINBOW YOUNG WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS CONTEST

Gabriel Turner, a home-schooled student from Rutherford county, has been awarded the Grand Prize in the kindergarten category from the eleventh annual Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators contest. Turner's story, "The Magic Garden and the Caterpillar," qualified for the 2005 national competition after winning first place in its category during UNC-TV's regional contest in April.

Regional winners were chosen from more than 45,000 stories submitted to public television stations from across the country for this annual contest—designed to encourage children from kindergarten to third grade to write and illustrate their own stories. A national panel of judges, consisting of respected children's authors and illustrators, educators, and organizations such as the American Library Association and the National Council of Teachers, selected this year’s grand prize selections from the regional winners in each age group.

UNC-TV has participated in the Young Illustrators and Writers Contest for more than eight years and Turner is UNC-TV's first national winner. As the grand prize winner for the kindergarten category, Turner will receive a set of Reading Rainbow DVDs and books. UNC-TV will also host a special ceremony to honor this award-winning local writer and illustrator later this summer.

Reading Rainbow is the multi-award-winning PBS series hosted by LeVar Burton. The series takes viewers on unforgettable learning adventures to nurture a lifelong love of reading. UNC-TV airs the program weekdays at 12:30 PM.

To view animated versions of Gabriel Turner’s story and the stories of all of the North Carolina winners, please visit www.unctv.org/kids/rriwriters.

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. For more information about UNC-TV and its programs, please visit www.unctv.org.

—UNC-TV—