SCANDRETT WON FIRST PLACE AT NATIONAL HANDWRITING CONTEST

Annie Scandrett, sixth grade student at Murray County Central West Elementary School and daughter of Jake and Erin Scandrett, was recently notified she has won first place in her division of the Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest! Her teacher, Christine Larson, stated, “We have participated in this contest for many, many years and though we’ve had a couple of state winners, we’ve never had a national winner before. This is a really big deal!”

The Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest is open to all United States students in grades K-8, and receives approximately eighty-thousand entries every year. The youngest students submit print entries and grades 3-8 submit cursive writing entries. Annie explained, “We were required to write our name, a sentence that used all of the letters of the alphabet and answer the question of why we think writing is important. I wrote that writing is a big part of our history and I like the idea of carrying on that tradition. I like to send handwritten letters to communicate. I often send written letters to my cousins in Australia.” The entries are judged for shape, size, spacing and slant. Entries are submitted to their respective state competitions (public and private schools are separate categories) and the winning entries compete at the national level. Annie won Grand National Champion, earning her a large trophy, a cash prize of $500 and $1000 worth of educational materials for her school.

Mrs. Larson described great pride in Annie’s award, saying, “Her handwriting is beautiful every day.” Annie humbly remarked, “I like writing the best. I love the feel of a pencil in my hand. For the contest we couldn’t use a mechanical pencil, though that’s what I prefer. I don’t actually use cursive writing very often and though it came pretty easily to me when I was learning I had trouble with the loops. My third grade teacher, Mr. Siedschlag helped me though.” Last year Annie was a national semi-finalist, which she said was very surprising to her. “This year I wasn’t expecting to win at all. But last summer I worked on writing skills, including calligraphy and I will still try to improve my writing.” Annie credits Mrs. Larson with some very helpful writing tips and is thankful for her parents too. “My mom and dad both have good handwriting and they have been very supportive and encouraging.” The talented Ms. Scandrett is considering careers as a teacher or nurse and hopes to work in another country. “Both professions need good handwriting,” she declared.