ROTARY SUMMER READS
This exciting new literacy project provides third grade students with the opportunity to choose books with themes that reflect Rotary values. In April, students select from among 21 books for their own personal summer reading. The books are distributed in May. Each is age-appropriate and appealing to the third grade reading level.
LITERACY GRANTS FOR SUMMIT SCHOOLS
Since 2012, the Literacy Committee and Summit Daily News have contributed funds to the Summit School District for Literacy Grants in classrooms, libraries, and home providers. In addition, grant funding is provided to The Peak School and Summit County Preschools. The requests vary from year to year, but funds have gone towards bolstering learning centers, buying books and storage facilities, and building bilingual libraries.
“READING BUDDY” PROGRAM
The Literacy Committee sponsors an on-going “Reading Buddy” program for all six elementary schools in the County. Volunteers who love to read are paired with students to support the development of their reading skills. Reading buddies offer encouragement and support to students in the process of becoming successful readers. Volunteers are given two books to offer each of the teachers with whom they work. Each year the volunteers are honored at a weekly Rotary meeting in the spring. Please reach out if you are interested in helping!
INTERGENERATIONAL STORY TELLING PROJECT
The Intergenerational Story Telling Project pairs adults at Timberline Adult Care Center with students from The Peak School who share stories with each other, talking about their lives, significant experiences and interests. Students receive extracurricular elective credit for their twice-a-week interactions with Timberline participants. Students share their experiences at a Rotary meeting in the spring.
FAMILY LITERACY FAIRS
Twice a year, Early Childhood Options, Family Intercultural Resource Center (FIRC), Colorado Mountain College, Head Start, and our Rotary Club provide Family Literacy Fairs for young children and their families. Summit Rotary provides two free books to each young child during the Family Literacy Fairs in both the spring and fall.
HONORARIUM BOOKS FOR SPEAKERS
The Literacy Committee donates children’s books to schools and libraries throughout the county in honor of each of the club’s weekly speakers. A review of this program indicates that we have donated at least 540 books since 2008.
PRECOLLEGIATE MENTORING PROGRAM
This past year our Rotary Club assisted Summit County Middle and High Schools in providing two volunteers in the precollegiate mentoring program that serves approximately 80 students whose parents have not completed college.
GUATEMALA LITERACY PROJECT
Since 2012 The Rotary Club of Summit County has donated funds (matched at the district and international levels) to the Guatemala Literacy Project(GLP) for their outreach activities in elementary and secondary schools in Guatemala. This project is a partnership between North American and Guatemalan Rotary clubs and the non-profit organization, Cooperative for Education. The GLP promotes lifelong reading and writing skills in Guatemala by providing badly-needed textbooks, reading materials, and computers to impoverished schools. The goal is to ensure that no child in Guatemala grows up without the gift of both traditional and technological literacy. In 2013 we were the lead club for the Global Grant to support this project. Our members continue to participate in the annual tours to bring educational resources to schools in Guatemala.
WRITE THE ROCKIES
SHORT STORY AND POETRY CONTESTS
Every spring, the Literacy Committee and the Summit Daily News sponsor short story and poetry contests for high school-aged students. Award certificates and monetary prizes are given to the winners of both contests, who read their stories and poems at a Rotary meeting. The winners’ names and photos are printed in the paper, and winning entries are posted online by the Summit Daily News.
2026 Contest
Summit County's annual Writing contest - sponsored by Rotary of Summit County, Summit County Libraries, and the Education Foundation of the Summit - is accepting poetry and short story submissions in middle school, high school and adult divisions in both Spanish and English. Entries are due by March 8, 2026 and cash prizes will be awarded. Full details are available at Summitcountylibraries.org/
2025 - Write the Rockies!
Thanks to all who entered the 2025 Contest!
Order a Copy of the 2025 Writing Contest Anthology from the library catalog here.
The meeting on April 15th was extraordinary. The winners of all categories read parts of their winning entries, an AWESOME example of the creativity of diverse people of all ages and backgrounds.
The Rotary Club of Summit County awarded $5,800 to our winners!
Thank you, Summit County Libraries!
The Summit County Library, The Summit County Rotary Literacy Committee, The Education Foundation of the Summit and Next Page Books want to celebrate our community of local writers this winter. When winter descends, many of you retreat to your warm warrens, surrounded by hot tea, furry friends, and empty pages waiting to be filled. We see you, and we want you to know you’re not the only writer amongst the mountains.
On Nov. 1, the season of writing officially begins as the annual writing contest returns with English AND Spanish categories for all writers from sixth grade to ADULTS (*new for 2024/2025) who are Summit County residents. A poetry and a short story category also exists for middle schoolers, high schoolers, and adults.
Cash prizes of $300, $200, and $100 will go to first, second, and third place winners in each category. Writers can submit as many entries as they want, but only their best submission will be counted (no podium sweeps, no matter how many Booker Prizes your stories would theoretically win). All entries of quality will be collected and published in an anthology that will be added to all three libraries’ collections.
Cash prizes of $300, $200, and $100 will go to first, second, and third place winners in each category. Writers can submit as many entries as they want, but only their best submission will be counted (no podium sweeps, no matter how many Booker Prizes your stories would theoretically win). All entries of quality will be collected and published in an anthology that will be added to all three libraries’ collections.
The deadline for all submissions is March 17, 2025.
All poetic forms are accepted.
Short stories must be 5,000 words or less.
Submissions for all ages and categories can be made online here: https://forms.gle/u2hmsKT5VycfEMSM6.
All 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place works will have the chance to read their work aloud for Krystal 93!