By K.B.Nair
IRVINE, CA - Fifteen year old 9th grader from Northwood High, Govil Gupta, a budding author, is well aware of the frustrations young writers face in getting their work evaluated and published. Determined to give fellow writers opportunities to present their work, in March of 2007 Govil persuaded his father to help him acquire the domain www.wonderwriters.com and after several months of hard work he launched his site in January of the current year.

The site has proven to be a boon to kids keen on writing, from the kindergarten stage to 12th grade as is evident from the encouraging response the fledgling site has received in two writing competitions already organized by Gupta. The first covered the subjects of bravery, growing up and choices for elementary, middle and high school levels respectively while the second was on Earth Day which was common to writers from all classes.

The organization gives away prizes of $250, ipods, meals etc to winners of competitions. Asked how he is able to raise the cash to make such awards, Gupta said he is ever grateful to local businesses for their staunch support. Among them is the StoneFire Grill restaurant which has become a partner of the venture and hosts the award ceremonies.

All entries for the competitions, planned on a quarterly basis, will be published in the form of a book and sold at a price of $10. All proceeds from the sale goes towards charity and Gupta was happy that from the first contest the site was able to donate $200 and at the awards ceremony of the 2nd it had raised another $100 .The first edition had 130 pages with a print order of 125 copies and this is expected to increase with the release of every new issue.

At the moment participation has been mainly from the Southern California though he emphasizes entries can come from any where in the world. News of the site has been mainly by word of mouth and through fliers placed at many of the schools. To spread awareness he also emailed English teachers and principals of school districts and all his efforts to widen its reach seem to be paying off as the second competition drew two entries from Northern California. In course of time he hopes it will traverse state, national and international borders.
For more information: www.wonderwriters.com