Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Rhode Island PBS Kids Writers Contest Winning Stories Now Published Online


We're eagerly awaiting word from the national PBS Kids Writers Contest about how our local winners fared. The first place winning stories (one from each grade) were entered into the national PBS contest to compete with entries from across the country. National winners will be announced by PBS sometime this month!

In the meantime, all of the local winning stories (first, second, third, and honorable mention) have been scanned and turned into cool looking books - complete with the sound of paper pages turning! The books are now published to the Rhode Island PBS Kids Club Web site.

We're grateful to FlipBuilder.com for donating the Flip PDF Pro software that made these great stories look so good and so much fun online! The software was easy to use - we just imported the stories as PDFs. The program let us customize the background with our own photo (the desktop with a green blotter you see in the photo).

Also important to us was the ability to add our own logo and the sponsor logos. We looked at other flipping book software, but Flip PDF Pro was the program that had all the features we wanted that would best showcase the children's stories and serve our branding needs, too. So, see these great books in action! Follow this link or click the individual story links below.


Congratulations!
Winners of the 2014 Rhode Island PBS Kids Club Writers Contest are:

Kindergarten
Oliver S. of Newport, RI, for his story “Farmer Jack.”

First Grade
Iris B. L. of Providence, RI, for her story “Soccer is Fun and Healthy
Sage B. of Cumberland, RI, for his story “The Food Problem
Nola T. of Providence, RI, for her story “Stay Healthy
George G. of Providence, RI, for his story “Be Healthy

Second Grade
Asher P. of Providence, RI, for his story “Healthy Power!
Grace M. of Providence, RI, for her story “Being Healthy
Morgan F. of Pawtucket, RI, for her story Cat and Sam’s Healthy Eating
Jacob A. of Providence, RI, for his story “Katey and the Carrot

Third Grade
Raye O. S. of Providence, RI, for her story Healthy Living
Meghan H. of Rehoboth, MA, for her story Carly’s Healthy Tips
Trevor K. of Providence, RI, for his story The Wizard and the Dog
Sommadina A. of North Providence, RI, for her story The Fruit Portal


Helping Hands 
Several organizations from across the state collaborated with Rhode Island PBS to promote the contest, as well as guide the children through the writing process, and ensure that entries qualified. These collaborators include: Cranston Public Library, Henry Barnard School in Providence, The Lincoln School in Providence, East Smithfield Public Library, Joy Feldman and The Picture of Children’s Health, Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport, the Rhode Island Department of Health, and Salve Regina University in Newport. Contest judges were Carolyn Belisle and Alissa Becker from Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI, Kathryn Rok and Dr. Gia Renaud from Salve Regina University, and Megan Weeden from the Cranston Public Library.

The local contest was made possible by Blue Ribbon Sponsor Corner Bakery Café, with additional support provided by Red Ribbon Sponsors Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI and CVS | Caremark. National contest sponsors are LeapFrog and Highlights for Children magazine.