About Literature winners named Two Wyoming first-place winners in the Letters About Literature contest recently advanced to the national level to compete with students from the entire United States. The contest, now in its fourth year in Wyoming, encourages students to write a letter to an author living or dead who has changed the students lives. More than 600 students in the state entered the contest, and 47 entries were selected as semifinalists. In the 2001 Letters About Literature contest, Wyoming students wrote to authors ranging from Jerry Spinelli and Carolyn Keene to Laura Ingalls Wilder and Wilson Rawls. Students from each level I and II competed for first, second and third place, with the first-place winner in each level continuing on to compete at the national level.
Students compete in two levels.
I is for students in grades 4 to 7, and Level II is for students in grades 8 to 12. All state semifinalists receive a certificate. Bogart is the owner of Bear River Books. She holds a doctorate and has worked as a historian at the Wyoming State Museum and serves on the Wyoming Council for the Humanities Board and currently is the board s president. Lane is curator of rare books at American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming.