Writing Rewarded A Conversation with Nataly and Breesa Pierce

   Meet Nataly and Breesa Pierce, IEW students ages 8 and 11. Each of them competed in her first writing contest this past summer. Nataly won first place, and Breesa took third in separate competitions sponsored by Rush Limbaugh, author of the Rush Revere series. While looking for something to keep her daughters occupied during the summer, Rawnà © Pierce came across the â€Å"Proud to be an American† writing contest that Nataly would enter and then found another one with the prompt centered around writing a student body presidential campaign that Breesa competed in. â€Å"I wasn’t searching out writing contests but just happened upon these as I was filling out a special military scholarship [application] through Rush Revere, which I had heard about through HSLDA,† she commented. To hear from the winners and Mrs. Pierce and learn how they accomplished this task along with their thoughts about competing in additional contests, keep reading!    Why did you enter the contest? Nataly: It was a patriotic contest and I wanted to write about my Dad. He’s in the Air Force. Breesa: Because first place prize was a laptop and I thought that was a pretty neat prize!    Was it hard or easy to do? Nataly: It was pretty easy to do because I know about about Daddy, so I could do it. Breesa: It was kind of hard, but the length wasn’t too long, so it was doable.    What was the process like for you? Nataly: Mom and I just sat on the couch, and I told her what I wanted to write, and she wrote it down for me. She’s really nice to do that. Breesa: Nataly won her contest, so I decided I wanted to enter one too. Mine was different from hers. It was about running for class president. Before I wrote mine, I listened to the audiobook Rush Revere and the Presidency, and that helped me know what I wanted to write about.    What did you win? Were you pretty surprised to win? Nataly: I thought something went wrong with my submission because we received an email about the military scholarship, and I thought the email meant I didn’t win. But then a couple of months later, we received an email that I won! I was totally surprised. They sent me an iPad, stuffed animal, American flag and flagpole, and the audiobook, Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims. Breesa: I didn’t really think I would win, so I was pretty surprised when I won third place and received a Bose sound speaker.    Was this your first contest? Do you want to do more? Nataly: It was my first writing contest, and I do want to do more, but I want to do different topics. Breesa: This was my first writing contest, and I definitely want to do more!    If you could hold a contest, what you would have people write about? Nataly: I would want people to write about their family because I think family is special, and there is a special connection when you write about it. Breesa: Fictional characters with dragons. I enjoy the stories with princesses, princes, and dragons and how there can be so many different variations of stories with these characters.    As the parent, Rawnà ©, what benefits do you see having your children do contests? Do you plan on having them do more? Yes, I will definitely have them do more! They are fun and serve as a type of test— especially for homeschoolers. You can tell if your students are actually able to apply what they have learned in their classes to a paper that will do well. These past two we participated in, we didn’t do it as as a contest so much as we did it to keep busy, so it was a great surprise when they both won something. Breesa wants to do be an author, so winning this is a great feat and is extremely exciting and encouraging for her.    Do you know about our IEW.com/writing-contests page? This page lists all of the writing contests that IEW is aware of. Rawnà ©: I didn’t, but it is great to know about now, and we will look at it for further contests.    Congratulations to the Pierce family on having accomplished writers in their midst! IEW wishes them luck in their future writing endeavors. For aspiring authors or students who hope to win prizes such as laptops, iPads, or speakers, check the Rush Revere Challenge page for contests. You’ll also be able to see Breesa and Nataly’s name on the winners’ page. Contests change periodically, so be sure to check back regularly for opportunities to win!