DIGICEL, Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Ltd. (GBTI) and the National Library started the annual Champion Readers’ Competition in the Church Street, Georgetown Conference Room of the last yesterday.
Chairman of the National Library Council, Mr. Reginald Brotherson said he welcomed the monetary contribution of Digicel and GBTI to the promotion of literacy, which will enhance the work of the current Reading Club.
The Coordinator, Ms. Margaret Eastman said the programme was initiated by the National Library two decades ago to promote literacy and, over the years, it has grown considerably.
She said it began with three categories but two more were added and the contest now has four segments, orientation, preliminary, semi-final and final, targeting age groups of 9 to 11, 12 to 14, 15 to 17, 18 to 25 and 26 and over.
Eastman said, in the process, the participants would have been exposed to a total of six books and must maintain an 80 per cent score after which the five with the highest will be awarded.
She told the large gathering for the occasion that, in January this year, the National Library Reading Club was launched with two categories, Juniors involving ages 9 to 17 and the seniors 18 and over, enabling those who take part to get maximum benefits from reading.
Eastman explained that the Reading Club is a pilot project only in the city but, in the long term, they want to extend it to five locations countrywide and include Anna Regina on Essequibo Coast.
She said, later, it is planned to establish Reading Club branches in all ten Administrative Regions of Guyana and they are hoping to compete in reading competitions on the international scene.
Digicel Public Relations Manager, Ms. Shonnet Moore said a lot of work has been done to get the programme up and running but it was worthwhile, because of the development through reading which extends to all age groups.
She said, with the annual Champion Readers’ Competition, there are a lot of reasons to read and the company is pleased to make a monetary contribution of $1.7M.
GBTI Representative, Mrs. Roma Narayan-Singh said her entity is sponsoring the prizes for the competition in the 9 to 11 age group as it views literacy as paramount to youth development.
The orientation for the Champion Readers’ Competition is tomorrow at 10:00 hrs but yesterday there was a presentation of excerpts by members of the Reading Club in the age groups of 9-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18-25 and 26 and over, followed by an exhibition of books authored by Guyanese and Caribbean writers.