Eye Level Learning in Morton Grove, a center for math and language education, participated in the preliminary round during the 23rd annual Eye Level Literary Awards on Aug. 8.
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The competition, which was started over 20 years ago by Eye Level Learning’s South Korean parent company Daekyo, is a yearly contest where children and preteens can showcase their writing talents and, for some, their drawing and writing ability combined. Participants are given a topic and expected to submit their best material to try and earn a spot as one of three global grand prize winners.
This year’s contest topic was “My Dream,” and students were asked to express who or what they dreamed of being when they grew up. For the first time, the Morton Grove location, along with others worldwide, hosted the competition at its center where 30 kids drew and wrote about their future dreams, Gina Choi, director of operations and owner of the Morton Grove location said.
Having the contest in one space “was a great result” which allotted the children to hear the dreams of their fellow peers, she said.
“Some of them wanted to be speed racers, some wanted to become inventors and someone wanted to become a rock star,” Choi said. “One of them wanted to become like her mom and work at the bank with her. That was precious.”
The contest was broken into two categories – one for children ages 3-9 and the other for children 10-15. Those in the first category were asked to illustrate their dream with a 50 word description while the second was strictly writing.
Winning pieces will be selected from across the country and announced in November. In December, three overall winners will be chosen and announced in each category; those in the 10-15 age bracket will receive two plane tickets to Korea—the other being for a guardian—along with a crystal trophy and other gifts. Those who are nine and under will receive a monetary award and selected pieces will be featured in the 2016 Eye Level calendar.
According to Choi, although the Morton Grove location has been in existence for five years, the Eye Level brand first moved to America back in 2003 – the company was formally known as E.nopi. Daekyo, founded in 1976, started the literary awards to “help discover the power students have in writing,” she said.
For more information, visit myeyelevel.com and for the Morton Grove location, visit eyelevelmortongrove.com.
Lindsey Compton is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.