Coordinator of the local contest, Education Officer Mrs. Debbie Isaac, has indicated that participants will be judged on fluency, accuracy, enunciation, smoothness, confidence and expression, as they read two passages, including a narrative and a news item.
“A child who can read is confident, has a high self-esteem, and is able to transition from learning to read to reading to learn,” said Chief Education Officer Clarice Cotton as she assured of her Ministry’s commitment to developing the reading skills of students.
Her comments were endorsed by last year’s winner, Ricardo Rodriquez, who said “If I don’t carry a book I will die of boredom”. Rodriquez went on to encourage students to participate in this years’ competition and to keep their interest level in reading high.
The contest is being sponsored by Courts and the Accounts Manager at that company, Pearline Williams said her organization is especially proud of its reading competition. “It allows us to work with our young ones. We know with the competition they are getting these days with the TV, IPADS, Video games, all phones, reading is being placed on the back burner. We are really hoping that we can make reading fun and exciting for our young ones once again,” she said.
Following the local contest, the winner will move on to Dominica to compete against other students from other Caribbean islands, on 25th October.
A ceremony was recently held in St. Kitts to launch the competition. The winner will receive $5,000, 2nd Place $3,000.00, 3rd Place $2,000.00 and 4th to 6th place $1,000.00. Each student will also receive a laptop and their respective schools will receive the monetary amount they receive.