Balstad places first in contest

Thermopolis Middle School student, Kris Balstad, took first place in Wyoming Level 2 for grades seven and eight in the Letters About Literature contest for 2016-2017.

Letters About Literature is a project of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, is a reading and writing contest for students in grades 4-12. The Wyoming State Library conducted the state-level judging through its Wyoming Center for the Book program.

Students are asked to read a book, poem or speech and write to the author, either living or dead, about how the book affected them personally.

Balstad wrote to J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series.

Her letter was judged by A. Rose Hill, a former Poet Laureate of Wyoming, Mary Billiter, a romance author and award-winning weekly newspaper columnist with the Casper Star-Tribune and Laurel Shelley Reuss, a comic artist and writer of graphic novels, webcomics and tabletop role-playing games.

All first place winners advance to the national competition and receive a $150 Amazon gift card. Unfortunately, on the national level, no winners came from Wyoming.