Two local youths shine in national video contest

A nationwide contest -- started up this spring by Elgin's Gail Borden Public Library -- could feature some local winners.

An Elgin first-grader and a Hanover Park student are finalists in the first-ever StoryTubes, a national video contest for kids and their favorite books.

Basically, students produced a short video for one of four book categories, then uploaded it to YouTube and filled out other information at www.storytubes.info.

Voting for the 10 Hair- Raising Tales finalists on www.youtube.com runs through Sunday and Amber Godinsky, 6, of Elgin, is in the running with a puppet show, "Double Dog Trouble."

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"She loves stories and recreating them and doing puppet shows," said her mother, Glenna Godinsky.

Amber said her favorite part of the contest was making four puppets and taping her show in the basement.

And she won't be heartbroken if she doesn't win.

"I think it was a good contest," Amber said. "It's better than just not doing it. I think it was a fun activity."

Michaela Dukes, 8, of Hanover Park, also is a finalist for "A to Z Mysteries: The Bald Bandit."

Winners receive $500 in books and their home library wins $1,000 worth of books.

Beginning Monday and going through May 18, videos in the "From the Heart" category will include "A Light in the Attic," which was highlighted by Maggie O'Brien of Addison.

Dawn O'Brien said her daughter has been a huge Shel Silverstein fan and experimented with computer software to create a presentation. If the 11-year-old wins, she plans on donating her books to her school library at St. Philip the Apostle in Addison, her mother said.

"She hopes to win because she knows it will be a good thing for both libraries," Dawn O'Brien said. "It was a lot of fun. It gets people talking about books and reading."

From May 19 through May 25, the voting category is "Heroes and Heroines."

Finally, from May 26 through June 1, people will vote on the Facts, Fads and Phenoms category.

Denise Raleigh, the marketing director at the Gail Borden Library who organized the contest, said interest has been strong from students and educators. Libraries from across the country that want to participate next year also have called her.

"I think this is the beginning of something even more fabulous," she said, noting the contest focused on reading but helped introduce kids to new technology as well. "The response has been phenomenal."

Gail Borden partnered with four other libraries to start the contest, which was open to the entire country. Six publishing houses also sponsored the contest.