Students from two fourth-grade classrooms at St. Brigid School in Portland can proudly call themselves published authors. The Christmas Cookie Cookbook, written and illustrated by fourth graders in Caitlyn Connolly’s and Stacy Webster’s classrooms, was chosen as one of 50 finalists in Studentreasures Publishing’s 2024-2025 National Book Challenge. For receiving the honor, each of the classes receives a $50 gift card, and each student receives a published author certificate.

“Even if we didn’t place in the top three, we are still proud to have placed in the top 50 submissions this year! Students have asked me for months about whether we were finalists,” says Connolly. “I’m thrilled their hard work finally paid off!”

St. Brigid fourth graders have created cookbooks the past three years, each featuring favorite cookie recipes submitted by students and their families, as well as illustrations by the students and thoughtful explanations of why they chose a particular recipe. 

The contest was open to more than 77,000 books submitted to Studentreasures for free publishing this school year.