In the Spotlight :: Kathy Kinney of Mrs.P Be-a-Famous Writer Contest

This is my third year supporting the Mrs. P Be-A-Famous-Writer Contest that children across the country can enter for a chance to have their winning story beautifully illustrated and published into a real-live book!  Promoting a love of reading and writing is one of my passions because books have been such a part of my life.  There are so many magical worlds just ready to draw you in – you just pick up the book and read it.  Think about your own favorite book as a child and think about why it was your favorite childhood book.  I loved Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell and would daydream about living on an island by myself with only a pack of wild wolves to keep me company. For many years, I would read it yearly!  I think the story still affects me today as I love dogs that have wolf-like characteristics such as German Shepherds!  I had a chance to speak to Mrs. P about the contest and what changes they have made this year so to make it easier for schools to enter as many students stories as possible.  Make sure to send this information over to your child’s schoolteacher come September for a chance to win for the entire school!

How did you select the theme of Magic for this years contest?  It came to me when I decided to check back in with past winners and finalists of my Be-a-Famous Writer contest and see what they had been up too.  It was just “magical” reading what they had accomplished.  And of course, I read from my Magic Library, so I thought this all tied in very well.  We haven’t set a writing prompt for the contest in the past, but decided to try it out this year.

I understand there have been some changes made this year and that the contest is targeted to classrooms – tell me about this?  Yes, we decided to work directly with teachers this year. We have been Skyping with a lot of teachers across the U.S. for the past few years and started to notice that many of our contest entries were from classrooms. We also realized that it was bit of a barrier for the parents to have to sign the permission form online, so now teachers will be submitting the entry on behalf of their class.  We also changed the age groupings to have just one category from grades kindergarten to fourth grade.  Additionally, we have extended the contest to run from September 1 to November 15th, so there is more time for the teachers and students.

How do the schools win all year long as mentioned on your website?  We are so lucky to have a host of companies as our sponsors that all promote reading and they are making possible the purchase of books that the schools get to select themselves, and also an audio listening license from Tales2Go.  And we thank you for making possible through Penelope the Purple Pirate & Polka Dots Publishing the  2 copies of the winning story made into an actual book with original color illustrations for the classroom & school library. The other prizes really can be used all year long!

• Buyer Topia Gift Certificate for $100 to purchase books.
• One-Year Subscription to Tales2Go for your Class Up to 10 users ($180 value)
• $150 in Powell’s Book Gift cards
• The whole classroom will receive their very own Official Mrs. P Magic Universal Bookmarks (guaranteed to work in any book in the world!)

Are you doing anything special to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the writing contest?  Yes, indeed, I have created a “Where are they Now” series on my Reading is Cool blog about the past contest winners and finalists. It will run for 8 weeks, and it will feature excepts from the past winners new works & Q&A’s with the various young authors. It was so inspiring to read what these talented young writers have been up too, that I really wanted to share what they had to say to other kids and parents. There are some very wise insights.  Several have gone onto win some major writing awards, like the Scholastic Arts and Writing Contest, the Betty Award and the PBS Kids Go Young Writers and Illustrators Contest.  https://mrspstorytime.typepad.com/blog/2013/06/where-are-they-now-the-magic-of-writing-catching-up-with-2009-winner-gabrielle-fuller.html

Who is lined up to judge the contest entries this year?   Melissa Peterman  who is an actress and comedienne, best known for her role as Barbra Jean in the television comedy series Reba. Currently, she stars as Bonnie Wheeler in the ABC Family series Baby Daddy, and as host of ABC Family’s Dancing Fools, ABCs Bet On Your Baby, and CMT’s The Singing Bee.  She’s also a mom to a 8 year old, so knows how to spot a good story.

And since I just love teachers, we have 6th grade teacher Karla Duff, from Oelwein Middle School in Oelwein, Iowa . She’s been there for the last 20 years.  I met her Skyping with her classroom.  We also will have one more judge announced before the contest opens.  There has to be a little mystery when we announce the grand opening of the contest!

Anything else you want to share about the contest this year? I am glad you asked.  Again thanks to you – classrooms will have an opportunity to get some books just for entering the writing contest! Classrooms will be randomly drawn out of the entries and can win these great prizes:

• Five schools will receive either Penelope the Purple Pirate, Gerry the Giraffe or Clarence and the Traveling Circus for their school courtesy of Polka Dots Publishing.
• One lucky school will be selected to Skype with  you – award winning author Melissa Northway, the writer and creator of the Penelope series along with many other unique stories.

The contest opens September 1st for entries https://www.contest.mrsp.com/ and parents can help my mentioning it to their child’s teacher.