Cheerios Launches New Author Contest with Spoonfuls of Stories

Can you imagine having your story show up in cereal boxes all over the country? If so, you may want to check out Cheerios recently launched New Author Contest through Spoonfuls of Stories. Entrants are allowed to write a story for children between the ages of three to eight and can write the story in either English or Spanish for the contest.

The deadline for Cheerios New Author Contest is July 15th, 2011. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000 and a possible publishing deal with Simon & Schuster children's publishing in addition to having their story appear in Cheerios boxes nationwide. That is a pretty big incentive to submit children's stories to the contest.

If the grand prize isn't enough to convince you to consider sending in your children's stories to the Spoonfuls of Stories competition maybe knowing what Cheerios is doing for illiteracy will convince you. Cheerios will be partnering with First Book, an organization designed to get books into the hands of children from low-income families, and donating 100,000 awarding winning books to the organization. Since the Spoonful of Stories program began in 2002, Cheerios has given away more than 50 million books inside cereal boxes and donated over $3.5 million to the nonprofit First Book®.

2009 New Author Contest Grand Prize Winner Laurie Isop, of Renton, Wash., will have her story "How Do You Hug a Porcupine?" appear in over 3 million boxes of Cheerios this spring. Her book will also appear in bookstores nationwide on July 26th, 2011. Isop said of the contest, "The Cheerios New Author Contest helped me achieve my decade-old goal of becoming a published author. Winning the contest was equivalent to winning the literary lottery - the experience has been nothing short of life-changing and has motivated me to write every day."

2010s New Author winner Ron Rauss of Warrenton, Va., will be following in Isop's footsteps. His story "Can I Just Take a Nap?" will be appearing in Cheerios boxes in 2012.

Cheerios marketing director Meredith Tutterrow said of the competition, "Cheerios believes that reading is a key building block for learning and life. Through our New Author Contest, we are proud to support ambitious new writers as they create stories that will inspire young readers for years to come, as well as provide families across America with access to quality books so that they may continue to experience the joys of reading together."

Keep an eye out for an upcoming interview with Cheerios 2009 New Author Contest winner Laurie Isop and look for her book "How Do You Hug a Porcupine?" in your cereal box.

Sources:
Cheerios
Spoonfuls of Stories
Press Release