This is a long-overdue HIT. Back in August I asked people to send me
information on contests they've run at the high school level. Below are the
responses I received (thanks to everyone who sent a suggestion!)
If you were on vacation and off LM-NET at the time, and wish to send your
suggestion, I'd love to hear it (and if I get many, I'll post another hit).
Here are the suggestions:
Last year our high school library ran a Favorite Books/Favorite Authors
contest. I asked the teachers and staff to do a brief write up of their
favorite book or author and why they like it/him/her. Each month I created a
display about one of the selections and the students would enter a guess as
to which teacher selected the book or author that month. All correct
guessers received a small prize (pen with school name on it) and they were
placed in a drawing for a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble. Some of the
selections were: Clive Cussler, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Holes, Jane
Austen. There was quite a variety. I usually purchased a few new books for
the display each month. I usually included a brief author study, pictures,
and any other bits of information I could find. This generated student
interest and provided me with some good suggestions for new books. I got the
technology class to make the entry forms. We were pleased with the result.
Marsha Redd, Librarian
Kelloggsville High School
Grand Rapids, MI
....
We have a "well-read" contest at York Mills. We publish a list of classics
(150) on our website and post it in library. Every year we offer a cash
prize to the graduating student who has read the greatest number of books on
the list. How do we check veracity? 1. We give a "content" test on all the
titles. 2. We interview the top scorers about the books.
(Just don't hand out the tests. It takes a LONG time to make up 150 good
questions!)
Kathy Kawasaki
Head of Library
York Mills Collegiate, TDSB
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
......
Each year we have a "Food for Thought" contest in April that showcases
National Library Week. The prize is a HUGE basket filled with drink boxes,
pop tarts, cookies, candy, snacks and assorted junk food. We keep the
basket on display to whet their appetites. To get a chance to win, a
student must bring me the book they have read. They must answer a few
questions about the book or tell me enough about it to assure me that they
know it well. The chance (ticket) is filled out with their name, the book
title and their first block class. With our spring break in April, they
have extra free time to read up. The better readers bring in a bag of books
to get chances. There is only one other way to get a chance - I do allow
English teachers to give chances (tickets) to their students who are
reading a novel for them. The winner is selected on our televised morning
announcements. It's been quite successful and only once has a teacher given
chance won. All other times a true reader has taken home the goods. We love
the excitement and the kids look forward to the contest.
Sandra @ West Seneca East Senior High School, West Seneca, NY
.........
The CBC in Australia announces its book of the year shortlists in April...
we run our own contests and announce winners prior to the real thing in
August. We link a bookmark contest with it as well.
We also have a monthly book review prize - a CD voucher - presented at a
full school assembly. The book has to be borrowed from the school library.
Jan Radford
Teacehr librarian
Delany College
GRANVILLE NSW
...
I use Reading Counts to run this contest. Whenever a student makes 100 or
90 on a Reading Counts quiz, she gets a congratulation screen. These
congratulation screens in the RC program come up at random. If a student
collects 10 DIFFERENT congratulation screens, she get a $50 US Savings Bond.
If I don't give away 10 savings bonds by the end of the year, the students
with the most different screens get the remaining savings bonds. I buy the
savings bonds with fine money. One guy last year read 23 books before he had
10 different congratulation screens to turn in.
Donna Cook, Nacogdoches, Texas
...
Rena Deutsch, Librarian
Humanities High School
351 W. 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
renadeutsch@att.net
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