Our Valentine for Blobfish Contest, in which local librarians read Jess Keating’s stellar nonfiction book Pink Is for Blobfish to K-4 classes and then had students write Blobfish a Valentine, is now complete. As heartwarming as it was funny, not to mention educational in every sense of the word, the contest was a broad and satisfying success.

After an initial reaction of “ewww” upon seeing the Blobfish, the young scholars  found an empathy for him developing as they learned that he had been labeled as the world’s ugliest creature. This empathy deepened as they watched  Keating’s special Blobfish video she made after hearing about the contest.
Nothing can truly prepare a person for judging hundreds of worthy Blobfish Valentine cards. Two comments overheard while the kids were making their Valentines come into play here. One child wondered, “How are they going to get my card to the Blobfish?” A great question. All I could think to do, as the judge, was wade out into the sea, read them to the Blobfish, and carefully gauge his reactions. Another child commented, “He wouldn’t be so ugly if he would just smile.” What I can tell you is that these cards meant the world to him, and made him smile again and again.
All right, then – here are the Award Winners and a few runners-up. I’ll also include a link to a larger gallery of runners-up and honorable mentions. Finally, the contest took on a life of its own here in the ShelfTalker comments. There were some fabulous entries made and the Awards for them will be delivered below.

The amazing Cascade Brook School winner! Awwww.

The astonishing Academy Hill School winner!

The Strong School winner! Blobfish is thrilled to be your friendfish.

The Mallett School winner! The goo does protect him!

The thoughtful Phillips School Winner!

The Phillips School First Grade winner! Blobfish wants to meet you in real life too!

A fantastic Cascade Brook Runner Up!

Just click the Valentine above to see the full gallery of contest winners and runners-up. Adorable!

And finally, our winners for the ShelfTalker submissions go to the amazing entry by Karin T and to our redoubtable runner-up from Sarah Rockel. Prizes are on their way.