CULLMAN, Ala. – Over the summer, the Cullman County Public Library held a series of events, contests and activities as part of its Summer Reading Program. The program saw record attendance and engagement numbers.
One contest CCPLS hosted was the Youth Writing Contest, which asked entrants to submit an original story between 50 and 500 words, with or without illustrations that centered on adventure, stemming from the Summer Reading Program theme of 2024: “Adventure Begins at the Library.”
“We had 12 submissions from students between Kindergarten and seventh grade! We were so excited to see a wide age range of young authors,” shared Cullman County Public Library System Assistant Director Shelby Creekmore.
The imaginative contest was held in partnership with local children’s author Dorenda Doyle. Doyle regularly partners with CCPLS and other libraries and organizations across the country to live out her life’s work. Doyle travels to different communities, hosting seminars and young writer workshops, instructing the junior authors on reading and writing while increasing literacy and expanding children’s imaginations.
Local nonprofit The Friends of the Public Libraries of Cullman County pitched in the fun as well; the Friends made sure it lived up to its name by supporting the contest, securing a prize for each young author who made a submission for the competition.
“Everyone received a prize,” Creekmore said. The young novelists also received a boost of confidence with their prizes, as Creekmore shared that each author also received a “handwritten note from local children’s’ author, Dorenda Doyle, who kindly reviewed every submission.”
The novice writers who submitted their adventurous and original works to the Youth Writing Contest were:
