Your Kid Could Be a Published Author – Celebrity Judges Will Pick

Stories can be about anything, fiction or nonfiction, and should be between 250 and 1,000 words. Submit entries at the Mrs.P’s website. Parents – you will need to submit some information as well since all the winners will be 13 or under and so they can contact you if your child wins.

There will be 10 winners – 5 in each age group of 4-8 and 9-13 who will win a gift certificate to Powell’s Books, the largest independent bookseller in the world, and sponsor of the contest. Winners also receive a printed, signed certificate.

Two grand prize winners (one from each age group) will have their stories illustrated by a professional artist, bound into a real book and a video will be produced by a Hollywood production team. The story will then be shot as a video being read by Mrs. P, who is played by sit-com star Kathy Kinney, one of the co-creators and co-presidents of Mrs. P. You might remember her best as Mimi on “The Drew Carey Show.”

“I’m proud that my website exposes kids to some of the best stories ever written, but I’d also like to encourage kids to create their own stories,” said Kinney in a recent press release. “Encouraging creativity when kids are young helps them to become more successful and fulfilled for the rest of their lives. If Mrs. P can play even a small part in that, she’ll be a very happy redhead.”

The stories will most likely be available for a free download on iTunes. Last year, 22,000 people downloaded the story the first day it was available, Dana Plautz, co-founder/co-president of Mrs. P tells Family First. Winners were picked from over 1,000 entries in last year’s contest.

Winners will be announced on January 15, 2011 through a video on YouTube naming the winners. The winning story videos will be available sometime in March, corresponding with “Read Across America” week.

Everything is free on the Mrs. P website including reading activity sheets and crafts, such as how to make a bookmark. Plautz tells Family First they are also developing a reading challenge game that will be available as an iPhone application.

MrsP.com is the recipient of The National Parenting Center 2009 Seal of Approval and is an American Library Association “Great Website for Kids.”   The Professor Garfield Foundation learning portal, www.professorgarfield.org, recently added www.MrsP.com to its interactive online environment where children can safely explore, learn and creatively express themselves.

About Mrs. P Enterprises, LLC.

(From the website) Mrs. P Enterprises, LLC, was founded in 2008 by Hollywood team Clay Graham, Kathy Kinney and Dana Plautz. After having built successful careers in television and New Media, the three creators of MrsP.com were brought together by a love of reading and a desire to help spark that same passion in young people everywhere.

The company endeavors to expose young people to great books and stories through a celebrity storyteller and to spark their imaginations and creativity with on-line games and writing contests. Its production offices are located in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles, California.

Follow Mrs. P on twitter at www.twitter.com/MrsPstorytime.