Writing Winners: LPS students sharpen writing skills through state literature contest

April 21, 2025

Ethan, Justin and Imogen used the power of the pen to propel them to statewide writing success this spring.
 
The three Lincoln Public Schools students earned awards for their writing talents in the annual Letters About Literature contest. The competition encourages young people to read and be inspired by a variety of books, plays and poems. Students then wrote back to their author and explained to them how the literature impacted their life.
 
Ethan is a seventh grader at Irving Middle School and Justin and Imogen both attend fifth grade at Prescott Elementary School. All three said the experience had boosted their reading, writing, critical thinking and analytical skills.
 
“I liked thinking about the book and how it changed my point of view,” Ethan said. “I liked editing too. It was fun, because I could go back to what I first wrote and see how I could make it better.”
 
“I enjoyed having the opportunity to get more in-depth about a book that I liked and read a lot,” Justin said. “I also liked how it gave me the opportunity to practice writing.”
 
“I got to think not just about the book, but about my writing too,” Imogen said. “I got to write to the author about how this book changed me and how this book helps people and makes a difference for all of the people reading it.”

 
LPS curriculum specialists Lisa Oltman and Sara Danielson said contests like Letters About Literature promote the academic well-being of students. Oltman oversees English Language Arts curriculum for grades K-6 and Danielson leads grades 7-12.
 
“It showcases what we consistently encourage with students: picking up a text to explore worlds outside of their own,” Danielson said. “In doing so, students will strengthen their use of comprehension strategies, build background knowledge and grow their vocabulary.”
 
“It is a great opportunity for students to express themselves through writing and hopefully influence others to read a book they might otherwise not read,” Oltman said. “We want students to develop a love of reading and writing, and students are more likely to develop this love when they have strong reading and writing skills.
 
“This is the driving force behind the work we do every day. We work to help students develop those strong reading and writing skills so they can participate in contests such as these.”
 
Students could select any contemporary or classic book, play or poem to read for their Letters About Literature project. They then spent time thinking about what they learned or experienced from the fiction and nonfiction works. They transferred those thoughts to paper by writing letters to their selected author.

 
Nancy Svoboda works with academically-gifted students at LPS and mentored Justin, Imogen and Ethan on the project. She said the contest was a good way to encourage children to read, ponder, write and rewrite, which are talents that will help them in any profession they eventually pursue.
 
“For students in elementary and middle school to learn to express themselves in writing is a skill that will serve them throughout life,” Svoboda said. “To write well is difficult. It takes time and work. Almost always there are rewrites. To learn to honestly express your thoughts, ideas and feelings is difficult.”
 
Ethan wrote to author and sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh, who produced a manuscript about the effects of poverty and crime in America. Ethan said the book was eye-opening and gave him new perspectives about the world, which he tried to incorporate into his letter.
 
“I think it did help my writing, because I got to think more about the book,” Ethan said. “I wasn’t trying to win a contest or anything, but I got to think about how to make my writing better.”
 
Imogen penned a letter to Kimberly Brubaker Bradley about the book “Fighting Words,” which talked about the experiences of a girl who was placed in the foster care system. She said the novel helped her understand the world more fully.
 
“I knew this happened to people, but I didn’t know in-depth why it happened or how often it happened or anything like that,” Imogen said.
 
Justin read the book “Finding Junie Kim” by Ellen Oh. He spent time making multiple versions of his letter before submitting his entry to the judges.
 
“I almost wished I had saved my first draft so I could compare it to the finished product I have now,” Justin said. “I like how I got to basically change the entire thing, to go from an unpolished rough draft where my mind was a blur to a finished product.”
 
All three students will have their letters archived in the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors at Bennett Martin Public Library in Lincoln. They also met Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen this month during a reception for state honorees in elementary, middle and high school divisions.
 
Svoboda said she was proud of what Ethan, Imogen and Justin accomplished during the entire writing process.
 
“Anytime you engage with a student and see ‘the lights go on,’ it is fun,” Svoboda said. “It is a moment. Anytime you see a student rethink a piece they’ve written and then edit that piece and then be proud of rethinking and editing, it is a magic moment.”
 
Visit home.lps.org/reading and home.lps.org/english to discover more reading and writing opportunities for LPS students. 
 
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