#HowTheRunShouldEnd Writing Contest 2021 Winner & Runners-Up Announced

Each year, over 800,000 middle schoolers are possessed by ReadWorks' zombie cliffhanger series The Run. Students can't wait to read each installment, predict the ending, and even throw classroom parties to celebrate the series. 
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In 2019, we gave students the chance to write alternate endings to the series and selected one entry for publication in the official ReadWorks library. (See 2019's finalists and winner here.)

This year, we brought the contest back to give students another chance to get creative and tell their own stories!​

​Over 225 middle school classrooms across the country held writing contests and submitted one new ending to ReadWorks. 

It wasn’t easy, but our volunteer judges narrowed down the creative, original, and often spooky stories to just one winner and five runners-up.

We're excited to announce that 2021's winning entry is "The End," by 7th-grader Hunter Bird.​​

Mariah McDowell, Hunter's ELA teacher, shared a bit about her class's experience with our team, "My students had a fantastic time reading the suspenseful and engaging installments of The Run and writing their own original, creative endings!”

But it isn’t all just zombies and bluegrass. Like all of ReadWorks’ content, The Run can help spark the joy of reading while building students’ reading comprehension. McDowell noted, “Through participation in this unit, students were actively engaged in learning and implementing numerous literacy skills, including reading challenging fictional passages, answering text-dependent questions to build comprehension, and analyzing plot elements. Students also learned and applied multiple writing skills, such as character development, writing dialogue and narration, and consistently writing from the same point of view.”

Judges also selected five runners-up that you can explore and read now with your students!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's writing contest and our incredible judges. 

Like we are here at ReadWorks, McDowell is excited for future contests bringing  ReadWorks’ high-quality reading passages together with authentic writing opportunities: “This was so much fun for my students and the perfect activity for the month of October. I will definitely continue to implement ReadWorks writing contests with my students in the future!

See Winner and Runners-Up