PINOLE, CA (December 1, 2011)—Ten exceptional writers have been selected as winners of the 2011 National Punctuation Day® Paragraph Contest, which drew a worldwide audience of adults and students, including 21 from the American School of the Hague, in The Netherlands. Multiple entries were received from many schools, including Annunciation Catholic School (17), Blue Ridge Community and Technical College (15), Capac Middle School (14), Glen Grove School (27), Holton-Arms (19), Pennridge (12), St. Paul's, (20), Washington (10), Washington-Lee (36), and William Davies (46). And, there was one exceptional paragraph from a home-schooled 11th-grader named Aubrey Gonzalez, from Harvest, Alabama.

Punctuation Man carefully scrutinized all paragraphs for correct punctuation, spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and storytelling.

The ten winners are:
• Sean Bradley, of Dubuque, IA
• Sue Dillon, of Dubuque, IA
• Demorah Hayes, of Montgomery, AL
• Ann Heinrichs, of Chicago, IL
• Renee Hirshfield, of St. Louis, MO
• Eva McGough, of Seattle, WA
• Jeanne M. Perdue, of Houston, TX
• Bert Randall, of Clarksburg, MD
• Kathleen Summers, of Arlington, VA
• Allen Young, of Orange, MA

Each winner will receive a box of punctuation goodies, including a National Punctuation Day® T-shirt. Click here to download the winning paragraphs.

We had entries from the United States, The Netherlands, Malta, Canada, England, and India. Also, we had numerous paragraphs from students at these schools:
• American School of the Hague, in the Netherlands
• Annunciation Catholic School, in Middleburg, FL
• Avondale High School, in Auburn Hills, MI
• Baltic High School, in Baltic, SD
• Barnstable High School, in Hyannis, MA
• Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, in Martinsville, WV
• Capac Middle School, in Capac, MI
• Central Private School, in Baker, LA
• College of Western Idaho, in Boise, ID
• Covenant Christian Academy, in Huntsville, AL
• Glen Grove School, in Glenview, IL
• Hamilton High School, in Chandler, AZ
• Hampton Roads Academy in Newport News, VA
• Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA
• Hinsdale Middle School, in Hinsdale, IL
• Holton-Arms School, in Bethesda, MD
• Jacksonville High School, in Jacksonville, IL
• Kent State University, in Kent, OH
• Lake Washington Girls Middle School, in Seattle, WA
• Mountain Gap Elementary School, in Huntsville, AL
• Patriot High School, in Jurupa Valley, CA
• Pennridge High School, in Perkasie, PA
• Pine Crest School, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Pleasant Ridge School, in Glenview, IL
• Richard Montgomery High School, in Rockville, MD
• R.L. Turner High School, in Carrollton, TX
• San Jose Catholic School, in Jacksonville, FL
• Scales Mound High School, in Scales Mound, IL
• Spoon River Valley School, in London Mills, IL
• State College Area High School, in State College, PA
• St. Paul School, in San Pablo, CA
• Saint Paul’s School, in Covington, LA
• The Community School of Naples, in Naples, FL
• Washington High School, in Phoenix, AZ
• Washington-Lee High School, in Arlington, VA
• Western Albemarle High School, in Charlottesville, VA
• West Shore Community College, in Scottville, MI
• William Davies Middle School, in Mays Landing, NJ

Thanks to teachers Dr. Jean Mahony (Glen Grove), Penny Kinchen (Central Private), Melanie Love (Annunciation), Penny Hill (Mountain Gap), Elizabeth Pleszkun (Pleasant Ridge), David Moberly (Patriot), Tony Shawe (Holton-Arms), Jill Green (Washington), Deborah Bright (Naples), Maggie Wunderlich (St. Paul), Roxanna Kuebler and Kenny Knox (Spoon River), Dan Weber (William Davies), Sarah Congable and Dave Peters (Washington-Lee), Rick Shelley (Avondale), Marissa Kleinhans (Baltic), Deidre Morrison (Blue Ridge), Courtney Labish (Capac), Tina Roehr (Western Idaho), Diana Moore (Hamilton), Theresa Wilkie (Hinsdale), Cammie Symons (Jacksonville), Eva McGough (Lake Washington), Traci Walter (Pennridge), Amy Rasmussen (R.L. Turner), Melanie Gray (San Jose Catholic), Brother Ray Bulliard (Saint Paul's), and Janice Webb (West Shore) for inspiring—and in some cases requiring—their students to participate.

All participating schools and students will receive a box of punctuation gifts, including a set of punctuation posters for each classroom's walls.

We learned a lot about people’s fantasies and imagined realities from the paragraphs, and have learned more than we ever thought we’d learn about relationships, including one in which a woman keeps her copy of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style in her lover’s fire-proof safe while he must store a mint-condition Honus Wagner tobacco card, worth close to $3 million, elsewhere. As Punctuation Man says, more than he needs to know. Sadly, a single punctuation error disqualified this entry.

We had paragraphs with four, five, six, seven—even 10 sentences; the rules were clear about a maximum of three sentences using each of the 13 punctuation marks featured on this website. We even had an entry with 13 sentences. He knows who he is.

We also had a 140-character tweet, but it had three sentences, so it qualified for a prize (it didn't win). And, we had several late entries in our haiku contest, which was held in 2010.

The rules for contestants competing for a box of punctuation goodies were: Write one paragraph, maximum of three sentences, using these 13 punctuation marks: apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation point, hyphen, parentheses, period, question mark, quotation mark, and semicolon. You may use a punctuation mark more than once. Multiple entries were permitted.

In 2010, 356 people—from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Malta, and Italy (in Italian!)—submitted more than 3,000 haiku in our Punctuation Haiku Contest. Click here to read the winning haikus.

2011 radio coverage of 8th annual
National Punctuation Day®

Missouri State Teachers Association: Why Punctuation? Guest column by Jeff Rubin, founder of National Punctuation Day

The Destin Log: A punctilious punctuator’s pet peeves (first column, July 15)

The Destin Log: A punctilious punctuator’s pet peeves (second column, September 25)

USA TODAY: Contest: Do you know your punctuation?

San Francisco Chronicle: Punctuation Paragraph Contest Highlights 8th Annual National Punctuation Day, Sept. 24

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Happy National Punctuation Day! Now use it correctly

Baltimore Sun: On George Clooney and apostrophes

Charlotte Observer.com—The Reading Life blog: Punctuation geeks: A contest just for you

North County Times (CA): HUNNEMAN: Hyping the hyphen

Detroit News: Watch the punctuation: Its role in financial documents is crucial

Florida Times-Union: “Punctuation, (is) our; friend!”

Dubuque (IA) Telegraph-Herald: Editor’s notes: TH readers try to punctuate their way to glory

Omaha World Herald: So you know

Wilkes-Barre (PA) Times-Leader: Punctuation a thing of the past?

Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin: Prepare your pet peeves. Punctuation Day is fast approaching (first column, September 14)

Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin: I’m Just Sayin’: Today’s the day for perfect punctuation (second column, September 24)

Beverly in Movieland: Punctilious about Punctuation

New Jersey Today: Contest Highlights 8th Annual National Punctuation Day, Sept. 24 Saturday, September 24, 2011

Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review Today is National Punctuation Day

Pinole Patch: Write a Paragraph for National Punctuation Day

El Cerrito Patch: A Day To Show Some Love for Punctuation

Association Media & Publishing: It’s Cool to be a Comma

The Writing Resource: Celebrate National Punctuation Day

Center for Writing Excellence: Call me a nerd, but . . .

American Copy Editors Society: Celebrating the comma, partying with parentheses

Chicago Reader: Chicago’s contribution to National Punctuation Day

Chicago Reader: Cats, Chicagoan claim quotation, comma contest

Ben G’s video salute to NPD: September 24th is National Punctuation Day!

Headbloom Blog: The Apoplectic Apostrophe

Grumbling & Gratitude: “HAPPY” NATIONAL PUNCTUATION ... DAY!

Daily Writing Tips: 10 Websites and Blogs of Punctuation Protectors

Wordnik: Punctuation Rules!

TeleRead: National Punctuation Day is September 24

Punctuation rap song: Dots N Dashes

You Tube: Punctuation songs and videos

Cybrary Man: Cybrary Man’s Educational Web Sites

Arlington Now: Arlington Resident a National Punctuation Day Winner

Arlington Sun-Gazette: Arlingtonian Among Tops in U.S. in Creative Use of Punctuation

Canton Repository: Punctuation contest brings out the best

PUNCTUATION PROGRAM IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS®

In 2006, National Punctuation Day® founder Jeff Rubin and his wife, Norma, began performing Punctuation Playtime® assemblies in elementary schools. Punctuation Playtime® has been performed nearly 75 times in schools from California to Chicago to New York.

Punctuation Playtime® is a 45-minute program for children in grades K-6. Punctuation Playtime® features games, activities, and storytelling—even a rap song—to reinforce important punctuation lessons in an effort to enhance children’s reading, writing, and communication skills.

On October 21, 22, and 23, 2009, Jeff and Norma brought Punctuation Playtime® to the Westfield Fox Hills Shopping Center in Culver City, CA, to help the center inaugurate a new installation inside the mall called Punctuation Station. Jeff and Norma did three performances each day.

Teachers love the program and how Jeff and Norma interact with the children.

“Your program completely supports our curriculum content,” said Sally Feldman, a teacher at Washington Elementary School, in Point Richmond, CA. “You have wrapped up the best in teaching to bring to our students. I love the fact that you are not afraid to teach young children great skills!”

“That’s a typical comment we get from teachers after a program,” says Jeff, who works during the day as The Newsletter Guy, writing company newsletters for corporate customers out of his office in Pinole, CA.

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Punctuation Playtime® performs
at Los Angeles-area shopping center

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PUNCTUATION PLAYTIME®
TRAINING VIDEO®

Jeff and Norma have also produced a 30-minute instructional DVD that trains teachers how to facilitate Punctuation Playtime® in their schools. They also conduct 90-minute workshops for elementary-school teachers on how to teach punctuation to children in a fun and engaging way.

Visit the NPD website regularly at www.NationalPunctuationDay.com for updates and new photos. And check the Punctuation Playtime® website at www.PunctuationPlaytime.com for information about bringing our program to your school.