TORONTO ~ May 9, 2012 — The Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC) is excited to announce the winners of the Book Week 2012 Writing Contest for Kids & Teens. The national contest is a much-anticipated part of TD Canadian Children’s Book Week — the largest celebration of Canadian books for young people in Canada.

The winner from each grade will receive a $250 gift certificate for the bookstore of his or her choice. Two honourable mentions from each grade category will also receive $50 gift certificates.

The WINNERS of the Book Week 2012 Writing Contest are:

GRADE 4:
Sam Daly of St. Albert, Alberta for Ode to Waluigi

GRADE 5:
Simon L. Navarrete of West Vancouver, BC for Nanobots

GRADE 6:
Sydney Glover of Winnipeg, Manitoba for Waiting

GRADE 7:
Emily Nieuwenhuis of Brantford, Ontario for The New World

GRADE 8:
Zoë Huyge of Walsingham, Ontario for Missing Pieces

GRADE 9:
Kelty Slaney of Kelowna, BC for Afternoons with Donald

GRADE 10:
Calvin Chen of Markham, Ontario for Father’s Last Temptation

GRADE 11:
Mannela Mora of Surrey, BC for Thin

GRADE 12:
Sarah Gorman of Hamilton, Ontario for The Final Awakening

The HONOURABLE MENTIONS of the Book Week 2012 Writing Contest are:

GRADE 4:

Kirsten Favreau of Keewatin, Ontario for My Great Grandma

Matthew Pauls of La Riviere, Manitoba for I Love Flight

GRADE 5:

Hannah Nie of Toronto, Ontario for The Devil’s Key

Julia Wiseman of Hamilton, Ontario for Alphabet Alliteration

GRADE 6:

Erik Goodmansson of Winnipeg, Manitoba for The Water Bottle

Konner Coughlin of Miscouche, PEI for My Friend Jimmy

GRADE 7:

Quinn Fotheringham of Vancouver, BC for Long Shadows

Maya Schwartz of Winnipeg, Manitoba for The Window Gazer

GRADE 8:

Nicholas Gessner of Kelowna, BC for August 6th, 1503, City of Rome

Joseph O’Krafka of Richmond, BC for Ode to the Golden Age

GRADE 9:

Aliyah Wasmuth of Sonningdale, Saskatchewan for Doors

Colby Dillon-Voudrach of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories for Tuktu (Caribou) Hunting on the Frozen Tundra

GRADE 10:

Erin Wilson of Greely, Ontario for Sirens

Erica Navickas of Calgary, Alberta for her untitled poem

GRADE 11:

Sophie Bartlett of Torbay, Newfoundland for Harmony

Kanika Lawton of Maple Ridge, BC for The Written Promise

GRADE 12:

Natasha Tal of Victoria, BC for Les Ponts et les Portes du Paris

Dongik Kim of Calgary, Alberta for An Apple Tree

In honour of TD Book Week’s theme — Read a Book, Share a Story — Canadian students in Grades 4 to 12 were asked share their best stories or poems. Young writers from all across Canada were eager to share their stories. The CCBC received stories from Prince Edward Island to Saskatchewan to the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in the north! The response this year was overwhelming and the CCBC received over two thousand submissions this year — four times the amount received last year.

Nine Canadian children’s authors donated their time and expertise to judge submissions from young writers all across the country.The judges for the Book Week 2012 Writing Contest are:

Sheryl McFarlane, author of Waiting for the Whales, from Victoria, BC

Sharon Jennings, author of Home Free, from Toronto, Ontario

Jessica Scott Kerrin, author of the Martin Bridge series, from Halifax, Nova Scotia

Sylvia Gunnery, author of Emily for Real, from LaHave, Nova Scotia

Richard Scrimger, author of The Nose from Jupiter series, from Cobourg, Ontario

David Poulsen, author of Last Sam’s Cage, from Claresholm, Alberta

Sylvia McNicoll, author of crush. candy. corpse., from Burlington, Ontario

Lori Weber, author of If You Live Like Me, from Pointe-Claire, Quebec

Arthur Slade, author of The Hunchback Assignments, from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The Book Week 2012 Writing Contest is a wonderful opportunity for young writers, says, Grade 7 judge Sylvia Gunnery:

“When the box of grade 7 entries arrived at my door, I was happy to see there were so many young people across Canada who were keen to share their writing and take on the challenge of the writing contest. The box was heavy! Almost three hundred grade 7 students had entered the contest: short stories, poetry, fantasy fiction, fables, and more. As I did my first read-through to make the initial selections, I was reminded of the importance of giving young writers this opportunity to have their voices heard outside the comfort zone of the classroom and to have their writing read by professional authors. Whether an entry is judged as a winner or not, every student has had a very significant writing experience. Then, in the final stages of the judging process when the job of selecting gets even tougher, it’s inspiring to consider and reconsider those details of the writing that show the depth of thought and the skills students have to create compelling fiction and poetry. Congrats to all the writers who took part!”

The Book Week 2012 Writing Contest is generously sponsored by Amazon.ca, HarperCollins Canada and Simon and Schuster Canada.

For more information, please contact:
Shannon Howe Barnes
Program Coordinator
The Canadian Children’s Book Centre
Tel: 416.975.0010 x 227
shannon@bookcentre.ca