The Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature organization’s annual One Book Two Book Children’s Literature Festival will recognize the creative excellence of nearly 100 area students over the course of the three-day festival, Feb. 24-26.
The festival begins Friday, Feb. 24, with the “Once Upon a Time” banquet. One student from each of 22 participating Iowa City-area elementary schools has been selected to read a piece of original writing at the dinner. These students, selected by ACT in Iowa City, are:
Student School Grade
Sylvia Broffitt Horn 3rd
Siena Brown Mann 3rd
Adelaide Capps Hoover 2nd
Brooke Chandler Borlaug 4th
Ruby Frank Penn 5th
David Gugliuzza Lucas 5th
Jhael Herrera Twain 4th
Kaden Huntley Willowind 4th
Kenton Huynh Central 4th
Rhys Long Van Allen 5th
Braeden Marker Alexander 5th
Julianna Mascardo Weber 6th
Abby McNeely Garner 6th
Violet Mowrey Longfellow 6th
Alan Nass Hills 3rd
Ahlonko Porto-Rico Wood 6th
Mary Cate Pugh Regina 6th
Praneel Rastogi Wickham 3rd
Eviann Smith Lemme 5th
Charlotte Windmill Kirkwood 6th
Chuan (Alex) Xu Lincoln 4th
Eleanor Ziehr Shimek 4th
The festival’s final day, Sunday, Feb. 26, features the annual “Write Out Loud!” event, 1-3 p.m. in the auditorium in the University of Iowa’s Macbride Hall. The event is free and open to the public. Students in Corridor districts were encouraged to submit one page of original writing. Nearly 800 students answered the call. Those submissions were evaluated by a team at ACT in Iowa City, and the best of these were singled out for recognition.
In each grade, first through eighth, winners were selected in two categories. They are:
• The Write Stuff, which is judged based on language, clarity, structure, and emotional impact.
• From the Heart, judged based on creativity, passion, and expressiveness.
These winning students are:
“The Write Stuff” Winner (grade, student, school)
1 Willa Ohlmann, Lincoln
2 Rial Shriver, Willowwind
3 Tallulah Proulx, Willowwind
4 Kaden Huntley, Willowwind
5 Leela Strand, Lincoln
6 Sage Slessor, Prairie Creek
7 Sarah Bunyan, Northwest
8 Reece Yang, Northwest
“From the Heart” Winner (grade, student, school)
1 Kyros Yuefan Wu, Van Allen
2 Macy Mickalson, Hoover
3 Mae Knight, Mann
4 Rob McMurray, Hoover
5 Zaira Ahmad, Wickham
6 Kento Yahashiri, Longfellow
7 Lochlan Krupa, South East
8 Kora McClure, South East
In addition, the ACT team identified students in each grade whose writing was deemed worthy of honorable mention, roughly the top 10 percent of submissions. These 60 students will be recognized as part of the Feb. 26 event, which is free and open to the public. The students are (grade/name/school):
1 Sonya Zhu, Borlaug
1 James Haack, Lemme
1 Edmund Svoboda, Lincoln
1 Benjamin Sauder, Willowwind
1 Eero Foliente, Willowwind
2 Ellie Wilson, Garner
2 Adelaide Capps, Hoover
2 Ben Haines, Lincoln
2 Carson Perry, Van Allen
2 Sam Perry, Van Allen
3 Natalie Ramsey, Garner
3 Alan Nass, Hills
3 Sylvia Broffitt, Horn
3 Siena Brown, Mann
3 Mira Cunning, Willowwind
3 Lillian Cheney, NorthBend
3 Lydia Evans, Weber
3 Praneel Rastogi, Wickham
3 Madeleine Seitz, Willowwind
3 Flora Laurian, Willowwind
4 Brooke Chandler Borlaug
4 Kim Hahyeon Borlaug
4 Dania Hussein, Coralville Central
4 Lily Lumb, Hoover
4 Kaj Larsen, Lemme
4 Chuan Xu, Lincoln
4 Hannah Michalec, Penn
4 Thomas Fowler, Penn
4 Jhael Herrera, Twain
4 Owen Ruth, Twain
5 Braeden Marker, Alexander
5 Ella Anneling, Coralville Central
5 Jayden Khamphilanouvong, Garner
5 Eviann Smith, Lemme
5 Tate Williams, Longfellow
5 Kael Kurtz, Lucas
5 Ruby Frank, Penn
5 Julissa Paz, Twain
5 Rhys Long, Van Allen
5 Dahlia Garcia, North Bend
6 Abby McNealy, Garner
6 Charlotte Windmill, Kirkwood
6 Anushka Saxena, Lincoln
6 Rigby Templeman, Lincoln
6 Ava Cross, Longfellow
6 Chayse Pearl, Longfellow
6 Violet Mowery, Longfellow
6 Alexis Mapel, Penn
6 Miya Swenson, Prairie Creek
6 Juliana Mascardo, Weber
7 Julia Stoll North, Central
7 Ferguson Ward, South East
7 Kiva Meeks-Mosley, South East
7 L’Engle Charis-Carlson, South East
7 Maria Volkman, South East
8 Ahmad Fareeha, North Central
8 Natalie Kaiser, North Central
8 Aidan Spurgetis, South East
8 Celeste Obara, South East
8 Rachel Meehan, South East