SNPA NIE/Literacy Awards — 2007

Best Statewide NIE/Literacy Award
 
Click on the links below to access entry materials:
 

Kentucky Press Association

In 2001 Kentucky was the first state to ever try offering a statewide literacy project with it’s member newspapers. It was a hit. Today Rockin’ Readin’ Revolution 2006 – an annual statewide literacy project, rocks throughout the state and is being used by more and more newspapers every year.  This year the project ran Sept. 11-Nov. 18 with a 10-week serial story, “Tails from the Bluegrass II” written by Kentucky author, Leigh Anne Florence.  The first “Tails from the Bluegrass” story ran in 2005 and was such a hit KPA had to offer “Tails II.”

David Thompson

This second story began being written in Jan., 2006. The illustrations were designed by James Asher in June.  KPA informed all newspapers about signing up to publish the story in May.  The story CDs, and scrapbooks were sent out in late August to newspapers.  The first chapter kicked off in 85 out of 146 Kentucky newspapers the week of Sept. 11.  Each newspaper was given 1,000 scrapbooks to share with schools and readers.

A Sept. 7  special story kick-off teacher workshop was conducted by Kriss Johnson, NIE Manager for the Lexington Herald-Leader and sponsored and attended by LG&E/Kentucky Utilities. Over 40 teachers attended in Madisonville, Ky. The workshop featured the author and illustrator and teachers stood in line after the workshop to get their scrapbooks and books signed.

The story was written specifically for the Kentucky Press Association and this literacy project. But it also was written with teachers and students in mind. The story is about two dachshunds, fondly known as ‘hot dogs,” Woody and Chloe. Teachers loved the story because it dealt with Kentucky geography that is a core content skill taught at the 4th grade level.

Readers loved reading each week to see where and how the dogs traveled around the state. This year’s twist was the mode of transportation the dogs and their human family used to get from place to place.

The goals of the project were: to help improve literacy levels in Kentucky and to have 50% or more of the Kentucky newspapers publish the same weekly serial story simultaneously to promote reading, learning and families reading together.

The theme of the story was transportation and Kentucky geography.  The project encouraged readers to want to read good literature in the newspaper. The serial story was also a way to encourage weekly and daily Kentucky newspapers to experience an NIE project so they could see the positive reaction from their readership and be inspired to continue offering educational in-paper features and other materials. 

If needed, newspapers could get businesses to sponsor the space. This made many publishers happy when businesses eagerly helped.  

A total of 85,000 scrapbooks were printed and mailed to participating newspapers.

KPA reports that its goal was achieved. Eight-five out of the 146 newspapers published the story, for a rate of 58%.  The weekly circulation was nearly one million copies!  Page views = 2.3 million.

Promoting the project: The author, Leigh Anne Florence, (and Woody and Chloe) contributed to the success of this project by phoning newspapers to encourage them to publish the story. Because this was “Tails II,” newspapers were familiar with the main characters and wanted more.  During the running of the story, she visited 30 Kentucky schools and cities throughout Kentucky and did a special show for kids and families about how to be a better writer and be a better person. The dogs also were part of the visits and wore sunglasses.

KPA promoted the story via letters to publishers, e-mail pushes to editors and publishers, e-mails to NIE staff, fax messages and personal phone calls.  Information was included in the KPA monthly newsletter that is sent to newspaper staff statewide.  Many individual newspapers invited the author to their city and published an article and sometimes photos about the visit.  A local bookmobile invited the author and dogs to travel around their county to visit low income areas.

Each newspaper was given three house ads to publish in order to let their readers know about “Tails from the Bluegrass II.” 

The Kentucky Department of Education promoted the story to school districts by writing letters to superintendents and included information about the project ahead of time in their statewide print newsletter sent to teachers.

The governor’s wife, Glenna Fletcher, also endorsed the project by writing a letter that was put on the back of the scrapbooks used by readers to collect each chapter.

LG&E/Kentucky Utilities helped sponsor the teacher workshop in western Kentucky. The workshop was conducted by veteran NIE Manager Kriss Johnson. Leigh Anne Florence and illustrator James Asher also attended and were a big hit. Over 40 teachers from all grade levels attended the three-hour workshop in Madisonville.

Judges said:

  • "This was a true statewide project involving some 85 newspapers with local participation. It is a creative way to encourage reading the newspaper and promoting literacy. Goals were achieved. No one paper carried the burden of costs. It was a cooperative effort with tanglible results. Testimonial letters proved it impacted the target audience."
  • "It was very useful for the classroom, addressed state standards and promoted newspaper use. It was also very easy for NIE programs to use with minimal cost and prep time."

Executive Director, Kentucky Press Association : David Thompson