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Winners Announced for the Annual Helen Stein Shack Picture Book Contest

Setauket, NY – March 6, 2025 –

Emma Clark Library has announced the winners for the 11th annual Helen Stein Shack Picture Book Contest:

First Prize (Grades 7 – 9 category): Benny and the Lost Balloon by Yen Lo (8th grader at Murphy Junior High School)

First Prize (Grades 10 – 12 category): What’s a Friend? by Joyce Lee (10th grader at Ward Melville High School)

Second Prize (Grades 7 – 9 category): Dinky by Athie Kim (8th grader at Murphy Junior High School)

Second Prize (Grades 10 – 12 category): Kittie and Fish by Elizabeth Wright (10th grader at Ward Melville High School)

Each of the winning entries has their own unique artwork and storylines geared towards young children. Benny and the Lost Balloon by Yen Lo includes sweet illustrations with expressive facial features to tell this story. When Benny loses his favorite toy, he realizes that friendship and connection with others is more important – and more fun – than material objects. In What’s a Friend? by Joyce Lee, a kitten is trying to figure out what a friend truly is and realizes that they do know in the end! The questions are emphasized with charming illustrations. With colorful, bold cartoons and simple but effective text for a child, Dinky by Athie Kim allows the young reader to follow Dinky the Duck through her day. Kitty and Fish by Elizabeth Wright uses whimsical drawings with a lot of motion to tell the story of a new friendship between a cat and fish, the fun they have together, and how they resolve a problem involving ice cream!

Contest winners will be celebrated at a private awards ceremony on Monday, April 7, 2025, at 7:00 p.m.  Each First Prize award recipient will receive a $400 scholarship, and each Second Prize award recipient will receive a $100 scholarship. The newly bound books – made into hardcover by the Library – will have the honor of being added to the Library’s Local Focus Collection, and winners will also receive copies of their books to cherish in their own home libraries. Desserts will be served at the reception, generously donated by The Bite Size Bake Shop. Past ceremonies have had Library Board members, teachers and top school district administrators from Three Village, as well as elected officials from New York State, Suffolk County, and the Town of Brookhaven, all in attendance to honor the winners.

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 prizes.

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”

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