Students bring a ghostly cliffhanger to life in our national illustration contest - see our winner!

Each fall, ReadWorks hosts a contest to engage and spark creativity among grade school educators and students while celebrating our ever-growing fiction library! This year, students read and created illustrations for Our Family Ghost.​ 

Read the first installment, “A Shadow at the Celebration,” on ReadWorks now.

In this six-part series, Manuel's family has gathered to celebrate the anniversary of his great-great-great-great grandfather, José, arriving in the United States. However, Manuel soon learns that his family seems to be cursed! When a ghostly José visits Manuel in his dreams, he tries his best to lift the curse, while discovering more about his family's history.

“The shadow kept coming closer, forcing Manuel to back up, close to the edge. A few more steps and he would fall off….”

Eliza's illustration with minor alterations

We’re excited to share that our winner is Eliza, a 5th-grade student from Florida. 

​On Eliza's illustration being selected as the nationwide winner, Eliza's mother, Daria, said, "We are so very proud of Eliza. It was extremely exciting to see her enjoying reading the novel and working on her art with such passion."
 
See Eliza's illustration published alongside "The Second Task" on ReadWorks.org now!

In addition to the winning entry, our judges selected five runners-up, one for each grade level that participated in the contest. See their outstanding entries below:

2023 Runners-Up

Kei, California, 5th-Grade

Valentina, New Jersey, 7th-Grade

Evelyn, Ohio, 6th-Grade

8th-Grade Runner-up

​Don’t forget - anytime is the perfect time to get creative as a class! 

Use any of our exciting fiction series to host your own illustration or alternate-ending contest as a classroom or school-wide. Then, share your contest with ReadWorks on social media using #ReadWorksContest or share your contest stories with our team at [email protected]. ​