Emma Clark Library Announces Winners for the 3rd Annual Helen Stein Shack Picture Book Award

Setauket, NY – March 1, 2017 –

Emma Clark Library has announced the winners for the Helen Stein Shack Picture Book Award, a contest which showcases the young writing and artistic talent in the Three Village Community:

First Prize (Grades 7 – 9 category): We Can Still Be Friends! by Eliana Sasson
First Prize (Grades 10 – 12 category): Claire and Her Bear by Katie Zhao
Second Prize (Grades 7 – 9 category): Sammy the Sock Monkey by Nicole Freeley
Second Prize (Grades 10 – 12 category): Color Your World by Cassidy Oliver

We Can Still Be Friends! by Eliana Sasson teaches children to embrace and celebrate their differences, and the delightful illustrations even mention the five elementary schools in the Three Village Central School District. Claire and Her Bear by Katie Zhao (who won First Prize in the grades 7 – 9 category last year) is about a young girl whose beloved teddy bear goes missing and the emotions she experiences when this happens.

Winning authors will be recognized at a private awards ceremony at Emma Clark Library on April 27, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. At the reception, each First Prize award recipient will receive a $400 scholarship, each Second Prize award recipient will receive a $100 scholarship, and bound books for all winning entries will be presented and added to the library’s Local Focus Collection. Light refreshments will be served at the reception, and desserts are once again being generously donated by The Bite Size Bake Shop, a local Three Village business. All contest entrants will receive a Certificate of Participation at the awards ceremony.

The Helen Stein Shack Book Contest called for teens in grades 7 through 12 who live in the Three Village Central School District to create a children’s picture book. Each entry could be the work of a single author/illustrator or a collaborative effort of an author and an illustrator. The contest was divided into two grade categories, grades 7 through 9 and grades 10 through 12, with one First Prize Winner and one Second Prize Winner selected from each group.

This award is given in memory of Helen Stein Shack by her family. As a teacher, Mrs. Shack was committed to the education of children, and she especially loved literature written for them. She was a frequent visitor to Emma Clark Library where, even in retirement, she kept current with the latest children’s books. The library is grateful to the children of the late Mrs. Shack who have established a substantial endowment with the library to cover the cost of the winning scholarships.

Councilwoman Valerie Cartright spoke to the winners and their families at last year’s ceremony, “I think that allowing kids to express themselves in an artistic manner – positive artistic manner – is important. You are the future leaders…Keep expressing yourself. In a world today where there are so many negative things going on, every time you turn on the television it’s something negative, something that makes you want to cry or be mad, you need to have outlets. Positive outlets. And these [books] are positive outlets, not only for you, but it puts a smile on the faces of those who view it.”

The Emma S. Clark Memorial Library, located at 120 Main Street in Setauket and online at www.emmaclark.org, provides public library service to all residents of the Three Village Central School District.
“The Heart of the Three Village Community”