Pictured left to right, Polly Holyoke, children's Author and Young Writers Award competition judge, Carl Hu.
Alvis C. Story Elementary in Allen is about to get a lot more books in their library, thanks to the creative writing ability of Carl Hu. The 10-year-old has won Explore Horizon’s 2017 Young Writers’ Awards competition and in addition to receiving a Kindle Fire HD, his school will receive $500 worth of books from Explore Horizons, the UK-based chain of enrichment and tutoring centers that has DFW locations in Colleyville, Garland, Plano, Fort Worth and Frisco.
Competing against other North Texas students 14 years-old and younger, Hu had to create a memorable story on the theme of “The Future” to take the top prize. Runners-up in this year’s competition are Julie Kluthe from Lewisville ISD and Morgon Connor from Frisco ISD.
“We received a great response to our contest from students across DFW and we are so proud of all these students who put their creativity to the test,” said Liz Wilson, head of curriculum at Explore Horizons. “All the winners did a fantastic job taking our celebrity judge on a journey through different worlds.”
Award-winning Bluebonnet author Polly Holyoke, the author of The Neptune Project, was this year’s celebrity judge.
“It's truly been a pleasure for me to serve as the judge for Explore Horizon's 2017 Young Writers’ Award contest,” said Holyoke. “I was so impressed by the variety, creativity and talent I saw in the entries I read on the topic of The Future. I believe educators, writers and parents all need to do what we can to make writing more cool for kids, and contests like this one is an effective way to accomplish that goal.”
The Young Writers’ Awards is an annual competition hosted by Explore Horizons and is open to all North Texas students 14 years-old and younger. The program challenges students to create an original story of up to 500 words using a selected theme. More information on the Explore Horizons Young Writers’ Awards is available at https://www.explore-horizons.com/schools/
Explore Horizons provides enrichment and tutoring in math, reading and writing, for children of all abilities in Pre-K through 8th grade. Children become members and attend an Explore Horizons center up to twice a week on a drop-in basis. At Explore Horizons, our tutors get to know each child as an individual. Whether they are finding school challenging or are at the top of the class, Explore Horizons tutoring centers are here to help children shine tomorrow by becoming fearless learners today. For more information visit www.explore-horizons.com.
