Blue Ridge PBS has announced that eight of its young viewers are winners of the 2012 PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest, including Carina Aquilo from Salem at the first-place level. This year’s four first-place winners will now compete in the national level contest.

The annual PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest is designed to encourage, challenge and reward students from kindergarten through third grade to tell their own stories with their own illustrations. Entries are judged on originality, creative expression, storytelling ability and integration of text and illustrations.

For a full list of winners, read on. We also have this photo gallery of the winners’ artwork.

First-place winners are “Machines” by BJ Duncan from Pearisburg, Va., at the kindergarten level; “My 7th Birthday” by Carina Aquilo from Salem, Va., at the first-grade level; “The Time I Turned into a Mermaid at Swim Practice” by Tatum Robinson from Wytheville, Va., at the second-grade level; and “Poetry by Chloe Hunt” by Chloe Hunt from Roanoke, Va., at the third-grade level.

Second-place winners are “My Dog Bronx” by Khalik Saunders from Pearisburg, Va., at the kindergarten level; “Jessie Plans for the Broncos” by Carson Creehan from Blacksburg, Va., at the first-grade level; and “Frog” by Jordan Kalafut from Roanoke, Va., at the second-grade level.

A distinguished panel of judges from the field of education included Amber Yopp, Youth Services Coordinator for Roanoke Public Libraries; Ashley Glaze, a kindergarten teacher in Roanoke County, Va.; and Linda Pharis, certified Montessori teacher and retired VP-Education Services at Blue Ridge PBS.

For the sixth consecutive year, local support for the PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest is provided by Lanford Brothers of Roanoke.

– Submitted by Katherine Foreman