2 local kids are winners in PBS writing contest

Costa Mesa’s Owen Mansour and Irvine resident Arjun Gaggar are among 12 award winners in the PBS Kids Writers Contest, which received more than 300 entries from students in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Owen’s first-grade teacher at St. Joachim Catholic School in Costa Mesa encouraged him to enter the contest, according to Owen’s mother, Suzi.

The young writer’s fictional story told of him and his younger sister being chased by a monster. After dashing to the airport and buying a ticket to Dubai, they were able to escape from the fiend.

“They ended up living in a mansion in the desert and lived happily ever after,” Suzi Mansour said with a laugh. “Owen’s never been to Dubai, but he would like to go. He has a fascination with the place.”

For the contest, the students could enter short stories based on fact, fiction, prose or poetry, along with their own illustrations.

Arjun’s story was inspired by a dream he had.

“I like animals, and in my dream I was afraid they were all about to go extinct,” said Arjun, a third-grader at Fairmont Private School in Tustin.

The main character of his story, Abraham, sailed to an island of animal ghosts. When he asked the animals how they died, a panther said he was killed for his fur and an elephant said he was killed for his tusks.

Abraham then wrote a letter to the president about how animals need help and that Earth would suffer without them.

Contest winners received certificates, medals and trophies during a ceremony Wednesday at the PBS SoCal studio in Costa Mesa, where they had the opportunity to read their stories aloud to guests.

The contest started accepting story submissions in January from kindergartners through third-graders. The winners were selected by April.