Almost a year ago, senior Akash Kar became interested in a nationwide essay competition called Letters for Literature. Even though he spent many hours revising and rewriting his piece with English teacher Natasha Ritchie, it was hard to fathom that in a year’s time, he would have won the competition, along with a generous prize of $10,000 that he has donated to the school’s library. The prize was funded by Target.

The competition, organized by the Library of Congress, requires its contestants to write a letter to the author of their favorite novel explaining how that novel has changed the way the writer of the essay thinks.

Kar wrote his letter to Jhumpa Lahiri, the author of the novel “The Namesake.” The book describes a boy from India struggling to find his foothold in America, a character that Kar connected with. In the essay, he made connections between this boy and his own life experiences.

The prize money was accepted with appreciation at the District Board of Trustees meeting on Sept. 13.

“I was allowed to choose a library to donate the prize money to,” Kar said. “I wanted to give back to the school that had offered so much to me.”

Librarian Kevin Heyman plans to use the grant money to obtain many more books and support the general study of literature, as the Library of Congress had originally intended. He also wants to see existing databases updated.

“We plan to get a variety of new books, ranging from literature to scholarly,” Heyman said. “The Library of Congress wants us to promote reading with the prize money, and we plan to do exactly that.”

Kar received a plaque in the school library from the Library of Congress that recognizes him as the winner of the competition and donor of the grant.