Is a letter ever disqualified for plagiarism? The reader-response concept of this writing assignment makes plagiarism less likely but, yes, our judges do sometimes question the authenticity of a letter. If we are in doubt or suspect that an adult might have written a letter for a child, we contact the teacher or the parent to confirm the work is the child's own.

What if a child fabricates personal details, like having a sibling, in order to make his or her letter more appealing? If the details provided by the child within the letter are fabricated and not factual, the letter will be eliminated from competition. Letters About Literature encourages children to think critically about their personal reaction to a book's character or conflict. Letters About Literature may trigger creative thoughts in a young reader's mind but when writing a submission letter, the student must be honest and factual as well as creative and original. In other words, original doesn't mean making up a fictional story of one's own.