Murfreesboro Mayor Tommy Bragg reads to fourth grade students at Bradley Academy. (Photo courtesy of Read to Succeed)

How many times has a teacher given you or your child a reading assignment?

From kindergarten through college, students are handed a never-ending laundry list of books to read. And these books are important – most of them are, in fact, great, enduring pieces of literature.

But Read To Succeed is asking sixth, seventh and eighth graders to turn the tables.

The Rutherford County literacy nonprofit wants to know what middle school students would pick as a reading assignment for their peers.

The inaugural Read To Succeed Write Now Essay Contest is accepting submissions through March 5. Essays should be between 500 to 700 words long and submitted through readtosucceed.org or e-mailed to writenow@readtosucceed.org.

One winner will receive a $100 savings bond from MidSouth Bank, and one runner-up will receive a $50 savings bond from MidSouth Bank. Both the winner and runner-up will have their essays featured in The Daily News Journal. The Top 10 essays will be published in a ‘zine, distributed to the Top 10 entrants and their schools.

Read To Succeed, the community literacy collaborative in Rutherford County, promotes reading, with an emphasis on family literacy. This nonprofit initiative supports literacy programs and fosters awareness of the importance of reading.

The judges for this contest include AmeriCorps VISTA for Read To Succeed Sarah Porterfield, The Daily News Journal Editor Jimmy Hart, MTSU English professor Jennifer Kates, Read To Succeed volunteer and former teacher Sandra Pineault and MidSouth Bank's Andrea Hill.

Winners will be announced in April, and the winner and runner-up will be recognized at the 2012 Read To Succeed, Read To Bee.