A recognition ceremony will take place on May 31 at the Lewiston offices of Maine PBS.

LEWISTON – Maine PBS announces the winners of the ninth annual Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest. The competition was open to children in kindergarten through third grade who wrote and illustrated their own story.

Maine PBS received 478 entries from children in Maine, parts of New Hampshire and New Brunswick, Canada. PBS awarded prizes to first-, second- and third-place winners in each grade. The area winners are as follows:

Kindergarten

Second: Patrick Larsen, Mexico, “Great-Grampy’s Birthday.”

Third: Colby Patnaude, Harrison, “The Best Christmas Tree of All.”

Second grade

Third: Kelsey Lapoint, Wales, “The Tooth Fairy Who Was Always Late.”

Third grade

First: Elizabeth Gwilym, Freeport, “The Adventurous Hamster Mult-I.”

Second: Jagger Trouant, Lewiston, “I Don’t Want to Brush My Teeth.”

Third: Laura Pavitt, Brunswick, “Michael Meets a Woogle.”

A recognition ceremony will take place on May 31 at the Lewiston offices of Maine PBS. The four first place winners have been submitted to a national Reading Rainbow competition. National prizes, which are awarded in July, include a computer and printer, DVD player and Reading Rainbow library sets. Each child who submitted an entry received a certificate of achievement signed by Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton.