Liam Blas knew something was unusual about Oak Harbor Christian School’s Praise Gathering last week.

He’d had family members attend the weekly gathering before, but not this many.

“When my two grandmas and my family came, I was wondering, ‘What’s going on here?’ ” he said.

Blas, 6, was presented with a gold medallion last Friday, recognizing him for handwriting skills uncommon for a kindergartner.

He was awarded for possessing the best handwriting of any kindergartner in Washington state who participated in the Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest.

“His handwriting is spectacular,” said Kathy Miller, who teaches kindergarten with Mary Beth Eelkema at the school. “It’s probably the best example of handwriting we’ve ever had in kindergarten. He pays attention to the little details.”

It is the fifth year in a row that Oak Harbor Christian has produced a grade-level winner at the state level, Miller said.

Each school year, the school selects its own representative in each grade to submit to the national handwriting contest, now in its 25th year.

This year’s school winners were Keegan Mullen (first grade), Andrea Sies (second), Sophia LaRue (third), Jaclyn Timpog (fourth), Amaya Johns (fifth) and Blas.

The contest emphasizes the importance of proper penmanship at a time when keyboarding has become a prevalent mode of communication.

Oak Harbor Christian stresses the importance of handwriting at the elementary school level, principal Sherry Fakkema said.

“We have a very complete writing program and are using lots of venues to write and we stress that we need to be able to read what you write,” Fakkema said. “K-through-fifth grade, we are still writing. Everything is not done on the computer. It’s not all keyboarded.”

“Handwriting is really connected to learning how to read,” Miller said. “When they sound out words, they’re focusing on that letter sometimes. There’s a huge brain process that goes on.”

Elementary students focus on printing words until a shift to learn cursive writing beginning in the third grade, Miller said.

In the digital era, however, that focus is changing.

“There are schools not teaching cursive anymore, and we are having a struggle with that,” Fakkema said. “We are still teaching it and often being asked why.”

The pressure is to bypass cursive and go straight to keyboarding.

“It is a struggle,” Fakkema said. “We often wonder if we’re going to end up with very large thumbs.”

Blas loves writing words. He takes extra care to start and end letter strokes at the right place and strives to keep the letters in the right space.

His key to neat handwriting?

“Lots of practice,” he said with a big smile.

Among the goals for kindergartners by the end of the year is to be able to write a sample sentence using correct grammar and capital letters in the right places, Miller said.

And to get there, the children get plenty of instruction and practice.

“I think it’s kind of a dying art to see nice handwriting,” Miller said. “I’m glad to see this competition continue. It’s nice to see penmanship that’s exceptional.”

As part of the state recognition, Miller and Eelkema received an etched diamond award and Oak Harbor Christian a $200 gift certificate from Zane-Blosser.

More than 270,000 students from across the country participate in the contest.