Two Decorah students earn top honors in letter-writing contest

Decorah Middle School students Owen Burgdorf-Hibbs and Lillian Grouws

Decorah Middle School students Lillian Grouws and Owen Burgdorf-Hibbs
have won top honors in the "Letters About Literature" national writing competition.

Grouws's letter to author Kathryn Erskine was chosen as the first place winner out of nearly 1,900 letters written by Iowa students.  Burgdorf-Hibbs's letter to Markus Zusack was recognized as one of the top six in Iowa.

Students in advanced reading classes at DMS wrote letters for the competition about a book that has been meaningful and inspirational to them.

Both Grouws and Burgdorf-Hibbs will be honored during a May 1st ceremony at the Des Moines Public Library, where Grouws will receive $75 and Burgdorf-Hibbs $25.

Three other DMS students' letters were recognized for excellence: Greta Ransom and Isaac Roberts were named finalists, and Blake Donlon was named a semi-finalist.