Houston – March is National Reading Month. Since 2009, local non-profit iWRITE has given local students a taste of success through publishing.
While reading opens the world to young people, writing gives students a voice. Together, they can create high levels of literacy and an excellent ability to communicate. Both are key tools for success.
Founder of iWRITE Melissa Williams Murphy came back to Houston Life’s Studio B to tell us about the organization’s annual writing competition. Each year, local and international writers in the third to twelfth grade have the chance to become published authors through their annual writing contest.
This year’s theme is “fantasy” and students have until April 30 to enter the “2024 I Write Short Stories for Kids by Kids Publishing Contest” and the “2024 I am Texas Contest”.
2022 was a big year for the I Am Texas Contest.
One-thousand Texas students earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for their contribution to the Largest Published Book in the World, I Am Texas – a theme fitting for March in Houston. The opened book stands at 7′2″ tall, and 11′1″ wide, weighs 496 pounds, and has 400 pages of stories, poetry, and artwork by kids all about Texas! It was published in the 2024 version of the Guinness Book of World Records which is available for purchase now.
The book is currently resting and will be permanently displayed at The Bryan Museum in Galveston.
After the April 30 deadline for this year’s event, finalists will be named in September. There will be 125 winners. School-aged children with a passion for writing are encouraged to apply.