ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis-area fourth grader was chosen as the winner of a national handwriting contest.
Evelyn Thompson from Kirk Day School was chosen as the winner of the Nicholas Maxim Award for cursive writing in the 2023 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest.
The Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest sees around 80,000 students from kindergarten through eighth grade apply each year.
“Research tells us what handwriting can do to support cognitive development and better academic outcomes,” said Zaner-Bloser President Lisa Carmona. “That’s why we’re committed to recognizing those schools that encourage the use of manuscript and cursive, and the students who work so hard to master it.”
The competition began at participating public and private schools throughout the country. Schools choose their own winners who were then advanced to state-level competitions and the national competition.
All students were required to write the following sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
Zaner-Bloser chose this sentence because it contains every letter of the alphabet. Judges selected winners based on four keys to legibility: the shape, size, space and slant of the letters, according to a press release.
Thompson won the Nicholas Maxim Award which is given to students with cognitive, intellectual, physical, or developmental disabilities who excel in manuscript or cursive, according to a press release.
Thompson will receive an engraved Zaner-Bloser trophy and a $500 check. Kirk Day School will receive a $1,000 Zaner-Bloser product voucher and a personalized certificate.
Find the full list of Grand National Champions, National Semifinalists and Nicholas Maxim Award winners here.
