In late March, junior Akash Kar was shocked by the news that he had won the state level Letters About Literature (LAL), a national writing competition sponsored by the Library of Congress. A month after being selected to represent California on the national level, the program sent Kar an email notifying him he had won the overall competition.

In the competition, students from grades four through twelve submitted letters addressed to authors whose books had significantly impacted the students’ lives. As the winner of the competition, Kar, who wrote to author Jhumpa Lahiri about her book “The Namesake,” had the chance to donate $10,000 to a library of choice. He chose to give the grant to the school library.

“We’re lucky to have such a great library, so I’m happy to be able to contribute to the funding,” Kar said.

The grant money will be used to support the study of literature, both in print and electronic resources, according to librarian Kevin Heyman.

“[Kar’s letter] reminds me of Samuel Johnson’s famous words, ‘A writer only begins a book, a reader finishes it,’” Heyman said. “Akash’s efforts have proved those words to be true, and with this generous grant, The Library of Congress and Akash remind us that the book is still not completely finished.”

Past LAL winners have been publicized by well-known media companies such as the National Public Radio, as well as on television shows.

“It’s a huge opportunity,” Kar said. “[The school] gets grant money; we get a lot of publicity because of it.”

Kar spoke at a local reception in Sunnyvale on June 5 and will be speaking at the Library of Congress on a date not yet determined.

As humble as he is skilled in writing, Kar stated that he never expected his letter to get so far in the competition and submitted the letter without believing he had any chance at getting recognized. In fact, he only submitted the letter after much coaxing from his peers and mentors.

“I didn’t expect to do anything with [the letter],” he said. “I turned it in as a practice write.”