One Month Left to Submit Entries in the
2025 PBS Reno Writers Contest
Annual contest encourages local children to write and illustrate their own stories!
RENO, NV (FEB 7, 2025) — The deadline for local students in kindergarten through third grade to participate in the 2025 PBS Reno Writers Contest is one month away. Students are invited to submit an original, illustrated story about the theme SOMEDAY by Friday, March 7, 2025.
The PBS Reno Writers Contest encourages children throughout northern and central Nevada and northeastern California to get creative by writing and illustrating their own original stories around the selected theme. Through this process, children build their creative voices and develop critical reading and writing skills.
“We have already received hundreds of entries in the 2025 PBS Reno Writers Contest and I know many more teachers and parents are working with their kids to ensure they submit their original, illustrated stories before the March 7 deadline,” said Nancy Maldonado, PBS Reno Vice President of Education. “Each year, the Writers Contest brings out clever, creative writing from kindergarten through third grade writers in our community. It’s fun to see so many classrooms participating and teachers weaving the Writers Contest into their curriculum. Writing opens the door to a world of possibilities for children and the PBS Reno Writers Contest gives us a window into the creative talent of our community youth.”
Each story must include five pages, five illustrations, and a specific word count for each grade. For downloadable materials, guidelines, writing prompts and more, click here.
“Our annual Writers Contest is one of my favorite projects to be a part of,” said Joy Foremaster, PBS Reno Director of Education. “Seeing the writing of our local youth is so inspiring. The talent we see from year to year from such young children is amazing. This year’s theme of SOMEDAY is sure bring out some incredible stories!”
A team of dedicated educators and volunteers will go through an in-depth review process and select first, second, and third place winners from each grade. The winning authors will be honored in a variety of exciting ways, including having their stories published into hardcover books and featured on PBS Reno on the air and on the station’s website.
Each student who submits a story will receive a special certificate of participation. In 2024, PBS Reno received 2,777 Writers Contest entries, thanks to 160 teachers who submitted entries from 54 different schools throughout eight northern Nevada school districts: Washoe, Carson City, Douglas, Elko, Lyon, White Pine, Storey, and Humboldt. PBS Reno also received 15 individual entries that were submitted online. Read the 2024 winning stories here.
About PBS Reno
As of November 2024, PBS Reno is enjoyed by more than 540,000 monthly viewers in northern and central Nevada and northeastern California across several platforms including three broadcast channels (PBS Reno 5.1, Reno Create 5.2, and PBS KIDS on PBS Reno 5.3), a YouTube channel, YouTube TV, online, livestreams, and digital platforms. PBS Reno provides PBS national programming and award-earning, locally-produced content, with many local segments posted weekly to PBS Reno’s YouTube Channel. PBSReno.org provides engaging interactive content, including the video portal at watch.PBSReno.org that streams all locally-produced content and most PBS national content. PBS Reno serves students, teachers, parents and caregivers through immersive educational services including Curiosity Classroom Workshops that bring classroom lessons to life with standards-based lessons and activities. Through the support of local corporations and foundations, as well as thousands of individual members, PBS Reno has been delivering public television and educational services to the communities it serves since September 29, 1983.
About PBS Reno Curiosity Classroom Writers Contest
The PBS Reno Curiosity Classroom Writers Contest is produced by PBS Reno and is based on the Reading Rainbow® Young Writers and Illustrators Contest, a concept developed by WNED-TV, Buffalo. The contest is sponsored in part locally by Renown Children’s Hospital, Allegra Printing of Reno, Sara and Leonard Lafrance, and Rotary Club of Reno.
About PBS Reno Curiosity Classroom
PBS Reno Curiosity Classroom uses on air, online, and print resources to help parents, caregivers and childhood educators prepare children for success. Locally, PBS Reno is bringing these resources to communities in northern Nevada and northeastern California through PBS Reno Curiosity Classroom workshops. PBS Reno Curiosity Classroom workshops are based on the standards and mission of the PBS Ready To Learn initiative. PBS Reno offers free Curiosity Classroom workshops specifically developed for Pre-K through 4th grade students for educators and community educational organizations. An engaging video clip, a read-aloud, and fun hands-on activities are integrated into each workshop. Lessons are aligned to the Common Core Standards, Next Generation Science Standards and Nevada Academic Content Standards. All materials are supplied and a trained facilitator will lead the 45 to 60-minute workshop. An assessment of our Ready To Learn service (conducted in conjunction with the University of Nevada, Reno) indicates there is significant value in spending time in our workshops as they maximize greater learning outcomes through novelty instruction. Learn more here.
Contact us:
Membership Questions: membership@pbsreno.org
Programming Hotline: programming@pbsreno.org
Phone: 775.600.0555
Address: 1670 N. Virginia St. • Reno NV 89503