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Christian Childrens Book 2008

PURPOSE: In the Gospels, we see the teaching techniques Jesus used to share the message of God. One of these was Jesus' great ability to reach sinners through parables and story telling. This event is to encourage the use of creative writing and drawing to share the message of God to children through reading and illustration.

PROCESS:

Each participating group will:

• Write an original story that reflects the current year's LTC theme with corresponding illustrations.
• Submit only one entry.
• Make sure the entry is the properly labeled and correctly sized.
• Deliver the entry to the Event Director between 2:00-5:00 PM Friday.
• Pick up the entry after Celebration on Saturday.

The Event Director will:

• Receive entries between 2 and 5 p.m. Friday at the scheduled event room.
• Organize entries for judging and display at the LTC-SW convention.
• Provide completed Judging Forms to the Awards Committee.

RULES:

1. There are three grade categories (This is the participant's age group):

   Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12

2. This is a team event. Each team must consist of one to three participants.
3. Adults and other non-participants must limit their involvement to advice only.
4. Biblical Application and Theme: The story must contain a Biblical theme or story and be scripturally accurate, while the main point of the plot incorporates the current LTC theme.
5. Format: The story must be submitted in book form (bound with staples, thread, glue, etc.). Handwritten work is admissible if legible and neatly presented.
6. Length: The entry must be a minimum of 10 pages and maximum 30 pages. Double sided pages will count as 2. The page count includes illustrations, text and title pages. There is only one exception: Flip Books may have a minimum of 25 pages and maximum of 100 pages.
7. Reading Level: There will be three reading level categories: Baby/Toddler, Kindergarten, Grades 1-2. Reading levels are the age of the intended book reader.
8. Book Cover: The book cover should clearly display the title of the entry, author's name(s) and illustrator's name(s). Images and illustrations are permitted on the cover as an enhancement.
9. Inside Title Page/Identification: There must be an inside title page that clearly displays the following information:

   "Title of Story"
   Participant's Names, LTC-SW Identification Numbers
   Grade Category
   Name of the Congregation
   Intended Reading Level

10. Grammar/Text: All entries should be well written with spelling and grammatical errors corrected before submission. Also, text should be an appropriate size for easy reading for children (i.e. A Baby/Toddler book's text would be larger than a book written for Grades 1-2).
11. Illustrations: Pictures must be original works by the participants and neatly created and displayed. They should also correspond with scenes from the story. These illustrations can be drawn, painted, computer generated, etc.
12. Visual Neatness: Be sure to keep the pages clean and neat. Smudges, crossed out words and visible errors will cause deductions. Keep in mind the entry should be a final product.

JUDGING:

1. There will be three Judges assigned to each judging session.
2. The Judges will be given a judging / critique sheet for each participating team's submission.
3. An award rating will be given based on the point average among the three Judges. The Event Director reserves the right to adjust point awards by judges if deemed inappropriate.

AWARDS:

1. Each team will be rated according to the following scale:

   Gold = 95-100 points; Silver = 85-94 points; Bronze = 70-84 points; No Award = 0-69 points

2. An appropriately colored engraved plate for the individuals Award Plaque will be given to each team member receiving a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Rating.

HELPFUL HINTS:

1. Get creative! Try using fun materials, adding textures to your pages or creating pop-ups and make your book interactive!
2. Check out other children's books: See what the professionals are doing to get ideas for your children's book. Pay attention to the simple language, big fonts and how easy the book is to handle.
3. Download Ideas: Check out the Children's Book Idea Packet.

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