[stylist] Youth writing contest PR update

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Donna and Robert,

Can I print this in Slate & Style along with the poem if I credit the
paper where the article was published?  I think it would be nice to do
this, and any other news stories the kid winners may have.

Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Editor, Slate & Style
Publication of the National Federation of the Blind
NFB-Writers division website:
 <http://www.nfb-writers-division.> http://www.nfb-writers-division.net



Message: 6
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2011 21:01:57 -0600
From: Dan Burke <burke.dall at gmail.com>
To: newmanrl at cox.net, "Writer's Division Mailing List"
	<stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Youth writing contest PR update
Message-ID:
	
<CAKpRUTUO5L_unZnOEW0e1RSU0vdPqYpETuRtkspfqfMjfcOAyw at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252

It came through after all Donna.  Here it is, I opened on the gmail web
site with the "View as HTML" option.

It's a funky PDF and it's likely in newspaper style columns, saved no
doubt from a professional newspaper publishing application.  Lots of
hyphenation.  It obviously didn't retain any paragraphs, so the
paragraph breaks are mine.  And I spell-checked it to break up all the
words that were run together.

*****


TIMES-COURIER? ELLIJAY, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, JULY28, 2011
Local blind student wins national writing contest

National Federation of the Blind

Isabel Nieves, a 13-year-old from Ellijay, recently won first prize in
the middle school poetry category of the Youth Writing Contest of  the
nonprofit National Federation of the Blind(NFB) Writers? Division.

Her success was first announced at the NFB?s annual convention in
Orlando, and her winning entry is entitled ?Directions to Music Land.?

Nieves, who will be attending Clear Creek Middle School this fall, is
the daughter of Ramon Nieves, who has been with Home Depot in Blue Ridge
for 20 years, and Elizabeth Nieves, who is a stay-at-home mom. She has
two siblings: Emily, age14, and Raymond, age 7.This talented young lady
is also a music lover and is especially fond of such classics as Doris
Day.

Nieves is herself a singer and self-taught pianist. She won first place
for her solo performance of ?Somewhere Over the Rainbow? this past year
at Gilmer Middle School.  She occasionally sings with the Good Samaritan
Catholic Church choir.  She is also an excellent Braille reader and
loves reading all kinds of books, especially mysteries and Nancy Drew,
which she borrows from the National Library Service for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped.

Nieves was born premature at 24 weeks and weighed just one pound eight
ounces.

?She?s definitely a miracle,? stated her father.

She suffered from a lack of oxygen and has Retinopathy of Prematurity
(ROP), the most common cause of blindness in children. Despite four
surgeries, she is totally blind.

The annual NFB writing contest promotes Braille literacy and excellence
in creative writing. Despite strong evidence that Braille literacy
significantly improves a blind person?s ability to obtain employment and
advanced degrees, only 10percent of America?s blind children are taught
to read it.

Contestants were required to hand emboss their entries using either the
slate and stylus or a Braille writer (no computer generated Braille was
accepted). Entries were judged on creativity and quality of Braille.

The NFB Writers? Division encourages all blind people to adopt a
?can-do? attitude and learn the skills that will enable them to live
full, productive and independent lives.?

We are all impressed and delighted with Isabel?s creativity and Braille
skills,? said Robert Leslie Newman, president of the NFB Writers?
Division, ?and we are thankful for the support she is receiving at home
and in school.?

Nieves will receive a cash prize of $25 and the chance to be published
in ?Slate and Style,? the quarterly literary magazine of the NFB
Writers? Division.

With more than 50,000members, NFB is the largest and most influential
membership organization of blind people in the United States. It strives
to improve blind people?s lives through advocacy, education, research,
technology and programs encouraging independence and self-confidence. It
is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the
nation?s blind.

In January 2004, the NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind
Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United
States for the blind led by the blind. For more information about the
NFB organization, visit www.nfb-writers-division.net.


Dan