WATERVILLE — Gabriel Ferris, 13, of Waterville Junior High School, recently took first place in Level 2 of the national Letters About Literature contest. He will receive $1,000 for his letter to Walter Isaacson, author of the biography “Steve Jobs.”

The contest asks students in grades 4-12 to write a letter to any author, living or dead, whose work deeply changed their view of the world or themselve, according to a news release from the Maine Humanities Council.

Gabriel’s letter poses a question highly relevant for modern culture: “Is excess a requirement for extreme success? Your story leaves me wondering if this is the case — and struggling with the balance between still wanting to do something great while still being someone great. Consequently, your story created more questions in my life than it answered.”

Gabriel competed in Level 2, which includes grades 7-8. There were 564 submissions from Maine at this level.

“There are so many young, engaged readers in this state. We are proud of their achievements and love that there is this much energy and enthusiasm around reading,” said Hayden Anderson, executive director of the Maine Humanities Council, in a news release.

The council, which is the Maine affiliate of the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book, holds this competition with national sponsorship from the Library of Congress and local sponsorship from the David Royte Foundation. Maine students submitted a total of 1,104 entries in this year’s contest.