Julia Batson of Bainbridge Island was honored along with Washington’s two other state champions in a national literary competition in a special ceremony at the state capitol.

Julia, a seventh-grader at Woodward Middle School, was the Level 2 (grades 7-8) champion in the Letters About Literature contest.

The contest is sponsored by the Washington State Library and the Library of Congress, and encourages students to write a letter to the author (living or dead) of a book that has impacted them.

Julia wrote a letter to Randa Abdel-Fattah about her book “Ten Things I Hate About Me.”

The other Washington champions this year are Cora Tessaro, a fifth-grader at Daniel Bagley Elementary School in Seattle; and Jordyn Tonkinson, a ninth-grader at Hockinson High School in Brush Prairie is the Level 3 champion (grades 9-10).

The three champs were honored in Olympia by Secretary of State Kim Wyman and the Washington State Library, along with second-place runners up and honorable mentions, during an awards ceremony in the Legislative Building’s Columbia Room.

The three state champions each received a $125 check from the Washington State Library, which is a division of the Office of Secretary of State.

About 3,400 letters from Washington students advanced to round 1 judging and 722 moved on to round 2 judging. There were 325 semi-finalists overall who reached the third round.

Of those semi-finalists, state judges selected three champions, three runners up, and 21 honorable mentions.

This is the eighth year that the Washington State Library and the Office of Secretary of State have sponsored the competition as part of Washington Reads, which highlights books about Washington or the Pacific Northwest. The project is also sponsored by The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.