Unalaska, AK – For the third year in a row, an Unalaska student is a statewide finalist for the Library of Congress Center for the Book's annual Letters About Literature competition.

Sixth-grader Jennifer Ruiz won a $100 cash prize and a gift card from Target, which co-sponsors the competition, in which students write letters to their favorite authors. Ruiz wrote to Jennifer L. Holm, the author of Our Only May Amelia, a historical novel about a 12-year-old girl living in Washington State at the end of the 19th Century.

In her contest entry, Ruiz wrote about how parts of the book reminded her of her own life more than a hundred years later.

Ruiz is the third Unalaska student in as many years to be a statewide finalist in the competition. Emma Marquardt won last year for her letter to young adult fiction author Bill Richardson, and Cassidey Walker won in 2005 for her letter to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Six national finalists, two for each of the three age groups in the competition, will be selected later this year. Those kids will travel to Washington, D.C. this fall and read their letters at the 2007 National Book Festival.