This year, the national "Letters about Literature" contest inspired more than 1100 students from 78 Connecticut schools to write a letter to an author—living or deceased—explaining how that author’s work changed the student’s life in some way. While teachers may promote this contest as a class project, it is not intended that everyone read the same book, nor is the essay to be a book report: each student is responding to a work of his or her choice and addressing a particular audience the book’s author.

The winning essays of the following students, as well as the names and hometowns of finalists, may be read on the Connecticut Center for the Book Web site.

Level I (grades 4-6)
First Prize – Larry Spada (grade 6, Griswold Middle School, Rocky Hill), inspired by Pam Conrad’s Stonewords: A Ghost Story; Second Prize – Michael Fusco (grade 6, King Philip Middle School, West Hartford) wrote about Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.

Level II (grades 7-8)
First Prize – Arielle Jaffe (grade 8, King Philip Middle School. West Hartford) was swayed by Robert Lipsyte’s One Fat Summer; Second Prize – Matt Jorgensen (grade 7, Irving Robbins Middle School, Farmington) identified with Ouida Sebestyen’s Words by Heart.

Level III (grades 9-12)
First Prize – Asdis Thordardottir (grade 11, Conard High School, West Hartford) was excited by George Orwell’s 1984; Second Prize – Caitlin Roy (grade 9, East Granby High School) wrote about Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl.

All 32,000 Letters about Literature 2003 entries from around the nation were received and initially read by the national coordinator and her staff. Finalists’ essays were then returned to the originating states for final judging while the very best were also forwarded to the Library of Congress for national consideration. National contest winners’ essays are on the national Center for the Book Web site.

All of Connecticut’s winners and finalists, along with their parents or guardians and teachers, will be invited to an awards ceremony at the State Capitol in early June. The guest author for this year’s program will be author and poet Richard Michelson of Amherst, MA. Billie M. Levy, Chairwoman of the Connecticut Center for the Book will present awards and certificates. Mia Toschi will speak for Weekly Reader. Winners in each level will receive cash prizes of $100. for First Prize, and $50. for Second Prize. Each winner and finalist will also receive a certificate of achievement from the Connecticut Center for the Book.

Judges for Connecticut’s Level I student essayists this year were: Hartford County artist, writer, and nationally syndicated cartoonist Guy Gilchrist; Hartford Advocate and Preview Connecticut editor Alistair Highet of Litchfield County; and, children’s librarian Bina Williams of New Haven. Judges for Level II were Willimantic Chronicle editor and writer Terese Karmel; afternoon radio talk show host and Hartford Courant columnist Colin McEnroe; and educational consultant Susannah Richards of Storrs. Level III judges were: professor, author, and attorney Arlene Bielefield of Middlefield; Hartford Courant Books Editor Carole Goldberg of West Hartford; and, New Britain’s Vivian B. Martin— journalist, adjunct professor, and author.

Entry forms for the 2004 contest will become available in fall 2003 through school media specialists, Weekly Reader Corporation, and the Web sites listed above.