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WORLAND — Worland will again host the Wyoming State Reading Council statewide judging for Youth Authors, and organizers are seeking volunteer judges.

Organizer and Washakie County School District No. 1 elementary teacher Tina Krejci presented information about the reading council and the statewide judging to the board of trustees at Monday’s meeting.

She said 25 years ago she was teaching reading at the middle school and she was invited to Reading Council.

“It was awesome.” She said, of course, the first year they also had to do the Young Authors program and she read a story from one sixth-grade student about a bull getting in the pen with some heifers. “I read this story. I was aghast. I’m from Richardson, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas. They don’t have cows there. I was like ‘it’s about sex,’ and they were like ‘no, it’s about agriculture.’”

She said the student placed at the state level.

Last year was Krejci’s first year co-chairing the state event and she had the honor of presenting that student’s daughter with a first-place award for her story.

“It’s super exciting to be here to talk about this because this is the most authentic writing opportunity in that I have really seen in the state,” Krejci said.

Wyoming Reading Council and Young Authors started in Worland. “Worland’s reading council has been around 40 years and it’s the oldest in the state,” Krejci said.

For the state initiative, Krejci said she is thrilled to be taking it over. “You don’t get to see the great stuff our kids can do until you see state level Young Authors,” she said.

The Wyoming State Reading Council has four annual projects — Young Authors, state book awards, Celebrate Literacy awards and an international project.

For the statewide Young Authors, writers must first advance through the local reading council. According to the Wyoming State Reading Council website, “All entries must be submitted through a local Wyoming State Reading Council affiliate.  This applies to all home-school, virtual schools, and public school applicants. All entries must participate in a local competition prior to the state competition.  Only first-place winners in each category at each grade level will be forwarded to the state competition.”

State entries are due March 31.

STATE JUDGING

The Wyoming State Reading Council Young Authors judging will be Saturday, April 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at South Side Elementary.

Krejci said she had a small group of volunteer teachers last year that didn’t need any training.

She said there is a series of events including opening with “inter-rater reliability training and practice.” If there is enough judges, judges can break off into groups for judging the state entries.

There will be a break for lunch and if there are enough teachers participating there will be training on the “Five Components to a Dynamic Writing Classroom.”

More judging will follow and then there will be a celebration at the end with sharing of some of the best stories. “This is the best part of it, because you get to see little snippets of the magic that happens in our state because we are committed to writing that’s real and wonderful,” Krejci said.

State initiative

“What I’m here today is to encourage and invite anyone who would like to come to our celebration this year. Spread the word, tell other people, tell other school districts,” she said. “You don’t have to be a teacher, you can be a parent, a high school student, retired; all you have to do is show up and be ready for a great day.”