Bonham -- A creative group of young authors at Footsteps & Fingerprints in Bonham have earned $2,000 and first place honors in a contest offered by Workforce Solutions Texoma to area pre-schools and child care providers.

The summer contest was called Create A Book and it encouraged children attending the centers to write and illustrate a book.

Contest rules stipulated that all work had to be done by the children and there were two age categories: 4-5 and 6-8.

Workforce Solutions Texoma offered cash prizes -- $2,000 for first place and $1,000 for second place --  to the contest winners for the purpose of expanding their reading programs.

Winners received a professionally published copy of their book, plus each child who participated in Create A Book received a book bag filled with a chalkboard and books.

With their prize money, the young authors at Footsteps & Fingerprints will help pick out books and furniture for the library.

"I think their teacher, Georgeann Patterson, was as excited as the children to find out they had won," remarked Beverly Bethel, owner of Footsteps and Fingerprints. "We are all very excited and pleased." 

"This project gave us the opportunity to develop a special learning skill for the children in our Pre-K class at Footsteps and Fingerprints," Ms. Patterson explained. "We discussed the process an author goes through when writing a book from the beginning to the end.  The children chose the theme first and then they developed a basic story.  Our next step was brainstorming a story line on white boards and choosing the page they would author, naming their characters, and establishing the pictures that went with their page in story.  The last step was having each child draw their picture and write their portion of the story.  The result was a very successful book, The Hero Saves the Mermaid."

"It was exciting to watch the children go through this process and see their enthusiasm through each step," added Ms. Bethel. "The best moment was the presentation of the award and the satisfaction on their faces.  We’re still excited. We plan on new books and library resources with the award money. We also want to thank Workforce Solutions Texoma for this opportunity."

School Zone in Howe, Texas was the second place winner in the 4-5 age group.

In the 6-8 age group, Montessori Academy of North Texas took home the top prize of $2,000 and second place went to Tioga Learning Center.