Six Students Become State Winners in N.C. Reading Association's Young Authors Program

Carsten Macosko, Asha Pariyadath, Caroline Yurkutat, Anna Grace Yurkutat

Each year, the N.C. Reading Association sponsors a Young Authors program. This year's theme was "Dare to Dream,” and six of the students participating through the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Reading Council became state winners.  

The six winners were Asha Pariyadath and Carsten Macosko, who are first graders at Jefferson Elementary School; Caroline Yurkutat and Anna Grace Yurkutat, who are second graders at Jefferson Elementary; and Slate Stewart and Sneha Thilik, who are sixth-graders at Meadowlark Middle School. 

Caroline was the local council’s pick and Slate was a state judges' pick.  Children's author Kelly Starling Lyons was the speaker at the state celebration.  

Jenni Carowan, who teaches first grade at Jefferson, and Sabrina Secrest, who teaches sixth-grade language arts at Meadowlark Middle, are the N.C. Reading Association's State Young Authors Co-Chairs.

The entries were published in a book called Dare to Dream.