COVINGTON, Ga. — The Newton County School System (NCSS) announced the names of almost 40 winners of the 2021 District Literacy Days Recitation, Drama, Read Aloud, and Ready Writing competitions held in December at Porter Auditorium.

NCSS Elementary and middle schools held poetry competitions at their school and sent their grade level winners to participate in the district’s recitation contest. 

Competitors were judged on a number of criteria in the poetry recitation contest, including stage presence, articulation, interpretation, memory and accuracy, and difficulty of the piece.

RECITATION CONTEST WINNERS

• Kindergarten, Kira Wright, Fairview Elementary, "Saw My Teacher on a Saturday"

• 1st Grade, Elon Burton, Heard-Mixon Elementary, "The Creature in the Classroom"

• 2nd Grade, Brick Baker, Newton County Theme School, "Homework Stew"

• 3rd Grade, Ella Burton, Heard-Mixon Elementary, "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out"

• 4th Grade, Xander Wheeler, Live Oak Elementary, "Homework Stew"

• 5th Grade, Loghan Dudley, Middle Ridge Elementary, "Invictus" 

• 6th Grade, Oliver Reid, Newton County Theme School, "Jabberwocky"

• 7th Grade, Maren Poynter, Newton County Theme School, "The Builders"

• 8th Grade, Nia Mickens-Mills, Clements Middle, "Phenomenal Woman"

SYSTEM READY WRITING COMPETITION WINNERS

In the Ready Writing competition, school-level champions were given a writing prompt and one hour to complete their essays. Students are scored on a rubric of six traits: ideas and content; organization; voice; word choice; sentence fluency; and conventions.

• 3rd Grade, Makhi Brown, Middle Ridge Elementary, "A Week with Abraham Lincoln"

• 4th Grade, Journey Johnson, Oak Hill Elementary, "If You Could Change the World"

• 5th Grade, Sara Smallwood, Mansfield Elementary, "My Most Memorable Moment"

• 6th Grade, Joellianna Saintil, Clements Middle, "Less Time in Front of the TV"

• 7th Grade, Maren Poynter, Newton County Theme School, "New Class"

• 8th Grade, Bailey Stover, Newton County Theme School, "Space Exploration"

SYSTEM READ ALOUD WINNERS

Students in kindergarten through second grade participated in the Read Aloud of Best Piece Contest in which students, with the teacher’s assistance, choose a piece from the student’s collected writings to read aloud to the judges. They were scored on topic, words, order, sentences, and articulation.

• Kindergarten, Jackson Connell, Oak Hill Elementary, "Who is Your Hero and Why?"

• 1st Grade, Mallory Berger, East Newton Elementary, "Three Wishes"

• 2nd Grade, Harris Hawver, Mansfield Elementary, "If I Could Change the World"

SYSTEM DRAMA TEAM WINNERS

The South Salem Elementary School drama team took first place honors in the K-2 drama competition with their performance of “Little Red Hen.” Cast members included Maliyah Bridges, Kendall Jones, Kalani Maddox, Brianna Rogers, and Jabaris Willis II. 

In the grade 3-5 competition, Live Oak Elementary earned the top award with their performance of “Charlotte’s Web.” Cast members included Rhakhaiyah Allen, Qourtney Graham, Roman McCormick, Mason Perry-Preddie, Karsyn Randle, Layla Smith, Jye Veasey, Xander Wheeler, and Nelani Jones. 

Clement’s Middle School’s drama team won top honors in the middle school competition with their performance of “I Can’t Breathe.” Cast members included Skyy Lacy, Alejandro Pena, Tiana Watley, and Layla Walker.

Winners in all categories will now represent Newton County School System at the regional competition at Griffin RESA in February, 2022.

“The Literacy Days Competition provides students with the opportunity to perform and be recognized for their talents through the celebration of the arts,” said NCSS Superintendent Samantha Fuhrey. “I am proud of each and every one of our participants as it takes a tremendous amount of talent and commitment to participate in this type of competition. They represented their schools very well.”

She added, “In addition to our poetry recitation, read aloud, and drama team winners, our district ready writing winners are also very talented. I know Newton County School System will be well represented at the Griffin RESA Regional Literacy Days Festival.”