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(Roanoke, Va.)—Blue Ridge PBS is now accepting entries for the 2012 PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest for children. Open to students in grades K-3 who live in the Blue Ridge PBS viewing area, the national-local contest is designed to promote the advancement of children’s writing skills through active learning.
To enter the contest, students submit original stories or poems with at least five original illustrations, along with an entry form.  Classroom sets of stories sent in by teachers are also accepted, but each story must have a completed entry form.  Entries must be received at Blue Ridge PBS by March 23.
“The PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest is very popular with children and families throughout the region,” said Dr. Rose Martin, director of education services at Blue Ridge PBS. “Teachers often make the contest activities part of classroom learning. Children’s imaginations shine through when they have an opportunity to combine writing with drawing to express their own ideas. “

Local entries will be judged by a panel of community professionals. Winners from the Blue Ridge PBS contest will receive prizes and an invitation to a celebration party held in their honor. Blue Ridge PBS first-place winners also advance to the national competition where winners will be announced in summer 2012.

The entry form and contest rules can be found at BlueRidgePBS.org. Creative suggestions for 2012 and samples of award-winning work from prior years are available at http://pbskids.org/writerscontest/. Entries may be submitted by PDF to scampbell@BlueRidgePBS.org. Students may also mail in their materials to Blue Ridge PBS, 1215 McNeil Drive, Roanoke, Va. 24015.

For the sixth consecutive year, local support for the 2012 PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest is provided by Lanford Brothers of Roanoke. StudentPublishing.com is the official national sponsor of the 2012 PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest.

PBS Kids Go! is a collection of national PBS television, online and community-based programs designed to help early elementary school children explore new ideas and new worlds. Popular PBS programming for this age group includes “Arthur,” “WordGirl” and “Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman.”  http://pbskids.org/go/

About Blue Ridge PBS
Blue Ridge PBS is the 2010 and 2009 winner of the regional Emmy awards for community service for “JobQuest.”  Founded in 1967, it is the sole public multimedia enterprise serving 4 million individuals in portions of five states. The station’s 26,000 square-mile coverage area includes southwestern Virginia and bordering counties in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and North Carolina. As the region’s storyteller, Blue Ridge PBS offers outstanding informational, educational and cultural programming, along with an award-winning local production team devoted to regional issues and interests. Further, over 200,000 schoolchildren and their teachers benefit from the station’s education services that provide a safe, trusted environment for innovative on-air and online learning. Blue Ridge PBS is comprised of WBRA-TV in Roanoke, WSBN-TV in Norton, and WMSY-TV in Marion, Va. www.BlueRidgePBS.org