Skipping Stones Youth Honor Awards

The Youth Honor Awards recognize creative and artistic works by young people that promote multicultural, international and nature awareness.

Original writing (essays, interviews, poems, plays, short stories, etc.) and art( photos. paintings. Cartoons, etc.) from youth. aged 7 to 17, should be typed or neatly handwritten. Essays should be under 1,000 words and poems should be under 30 lines. Non-English writings, photo essays and art pieces (up to 8) are equally welcome.

You may also choose to stress the work of a youth organization or group project. Using the same guidelines as above, tell us how the group works to preserve nature or enrich the community, its members and the lives of others.

Entries must be e-mailed or postmarked by 25 June. Please include the following:

A cover letter telling about yourself and your works, age, address and telephone number or e-mail, which we need to contact you during August if you are a winner.

A Certificate of Originality and a Parental Permission to publish your work We reserve the right to publish your entry at our judgement.

Send a $5 entry fee. If you enter the honor awards program and also subscribe ($25/year), you can enter without the entry fee. If you are entering electronically, we can send you an online request for $7, which includes the entry fee of $5, plus an additional $2 convenience fee.

Ten winning entries will be published in the October issue. Winners will receive an Honor Award Certificate, a subscription to Skipping Stones and five books.

P. o Box 3939

Eugene. OR 97403 USA.

In fo@Ski ppingStones.Org

One night before bed, Christine Carter was sitting with her daughter in her legs. They were making a list: “Three Good Things of the Day.” Her daughter, who was combing Carter's hair, said. “Mom, this is going to be one of my three good things.”

Making a list was their way of reflecting on things they were grateful for. It's a skill based on an expanding field of research known as the science of happiness. Carter is a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley. She studies how schools and families can develop positive emotions and help kids lead a healthier life.

Finding the positive side doesn't mean never being sad. It means understanding that feeling sad is natural, and that it passes more quickly if we can notice the good things in life. “This is really about mental health,” Carter says. “We can practice bringing happiness to ourselves。It's like putting money in the bank. We can be ready to deal with hard times in the future.”

A key step toward happiness is learning how to describe emotions, even negative ones. Feeling blue? It's better to accept the emotion willingly than 1o ignore it. Ask yourself: “What do I feel? Where in my body am I feeling it? Does it have a color or shape?”

Expressing gratitude is also important, Carter says. Let's say you often quarrel with a brother or sister. Reflect on why you're grateful to that person. Remember the good times. This makes it likely that you'll get along better tomorrow.

But the surest way to happiness is kindness. Helping others gives life purpose, Carter says, because you are changing the world. Even more, “We feel a sense of connection and love,” she adds. “We are born to feel better in community. Our nervous system feels safe when we're connected with other people.”

You may have noticed particular bright night skies recently as we experienced a full moon. NASA reported the event, called the Wolf Moon, began Thursday afternoon and ended Saturday morning. But did you notice any changes in your personal sleep patterns in the days leading up to the full moon?

As the latest full moon was beginning, a new study was released suggesting that a full moon can affect human sleep cycles. Researchers confirmed that the nights leading up to a full moon have more natural light available after the sun goes down.

The new research found that in the days before a full moon, people go to sleep later in the evening and sleep for shorter periods of time.

The moon takes 27. 3 days to go around the Earth, but it takes 29.5 days to complete a full cycle from New Moon to New Moon. The new study measured the sleep patterns of test subjects as the moon progressed through at least one whole 29.5—day cycle. Some subjects were tested through two moon cycles.

On average, people involved in the study slept about 52 minutes less on nights before a full moon. They also went to bed about 30 minutes later. The research showed that people had the latest bedtime and the shortest amount of sleep during the nights that were three to five days before a full moon.

The study involved 98 individuals living in three different indigenous communities in Argentina. Each local community had different access to electricity. One countryside community had no electricity access, while a second had only limited access. A third community was in a more populated area and had full access to electricity.

The scientists say further research is needed to help explain other possible causes for the changes in sleep patterns in the test subjects. Such causes could involve biological differences in individuals or social patterns within communities.