Celebration of Young Writers features 11

WASHINGTON — Eleven students have been selected to be featured at the 13th Annual Celebration of Young Writers, which will be held on Saturday, June 2nd from 5 to 7:30pm at The Gunnery, 22 Kirby Rd. This year ASAP!® received almost 200 submissions from over 50 schools across the state.

Ranging in ages from 7-18, each will read their very own piece in front of the more than 300 guests.

The selected young writers are: Florangel L. Baez-Batista and Heidy Campoverde of Torrington Middle School, Isabella Byrne of The Gunnery in Washington, Tate Celebi and Sarah Spannhake of Washington Montessori School, Brooke Celello of Woodbury Middle School, Laura Gutaman of Bethel Middle School, Sarah Lewis of William H Hall High School in West Hartford, Eva Lucchesi of Burnham School in Bridgewater, Joshua Smith Myers of Children’s Community School in Waterbury, Connor Richardson of Shepaug in Washington, and Maggie Schnyer of Torrington High School.

Celebration of Young Writers was established with the help of Ellen and Frank McCourt, Ann and Denis Leary and Susanna Salk. The event began as a way to encourage children to share their love of writing.

The event will be hosted by Tom Leopold, who has worked with such comedic legends as Jonathan Winters, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Martin Short, Carol Burnett, Billy Crystal, Chevy Chase, and Christopher Guest, as well as written for popular television show such as Seinfeld, Cheers, and Will and Grace.

This year, ASAP! will honor the late Irish novelist, journalist, and broadcaster Frank Delaney. Mr. Delaney was consistently generous of his time and energy in supporting the arts here in his adopted home of Litchfield County, where he lived and worked for nearly two decades with his wife Diane Meier. Ellen McCourt will present the 8th Annual Frank McCourt Prize in Excellence in Teaching to this year’s recipient, Lauren Bannon from The Gilbert School in Winchester.

Celebration of Young Writers is open to the public. Tickets are available at www.asapct.org or by calling 860-868-0740.