The Courts OECS Reading Competition reached the exciting final stages in St Lucia on Wednesday, November 4, and for the determining competition round, eight students who topped their respective district challenges were present at the CSA Centre in Sans Souci.
Students were supported by teachers and students from their schools as well as staff from Courts and representatives from the ministry for education.
The Reading competition, an initiative by Courts St Lucia and the ministry of education got underway sometime after 10am with remarks from the company’s OECS Regional Director, Malcolm Burns. In his brief remarks, Burns noted that reading as a leisure activity was becoming increasingly marginalized. He said reading was under threat and noted that reading was a critical part of personal development, important to every child, to St Lucia and to the OECS.
The Regional Director left the audience with a collection of famous quotes that told of the benefits of reading, including; “Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are,” and “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
From there it was on to the competition, starting with a narrative piece entitled, The Lion and His Raincoat. Contestants included Djuana Louvence; Roblot Combined, Amanda Adlain; Augier Combined, Faith Andrew; Les Etangs Combined, Abbie Pultie; Dame Pearlette Louisy Primary, Quaine Henry; La Croix Maingot Combined, Sharla Fontenelle; Morne Dudon Combined, Tammie Leon; Micoud Primary and Alisha Paul; Ti Rocher Primary School.
The youthful crop of students made their way to the stage confidently and for the most part, put everything they’d learned into reciting the short story. The three judges were teachers Paulmina Blanchard, Dr Anthony Felicien and STAR publisher Rick Wayne and their final decision would be made based on students’ reading fluency, proper pronunciation, volume, pitch and rate. Judges paid attention to whether students read in a confident, relaxed manner, and on their ability to recover quickly from mistakes.
Students remained in a room away from the area where the competition was underway and came in only when their names were called. Each student had two minutes to read through their pieces in both rounds before a bell rang for them to start reading. For the second part of the competition, students were required to read a news item that had to do with the Logos Hope’s arrival to St Lucia.
Morne Dudon Combined’s Sharla Fontenelle took her time and read carefully, a strategic move to avoid making mistakes that helped her secure the number three spot. Second place went to another careful, practiced reader, Abbie Pultie from the Dame Pearlette Louisy School. Pultie was one of the crowd favourites and some had even projected that she’d steal away the first place title. Lo’ and Beyond, the competition was not one to be swept away as there was capable competition just as determined to claim the first place trophy. La Croix Maingot’s Quaine Henry, maintained a position in the top four in both competition rounds and at the end of it all, the competition’s sole male participant emerged winner.
The STAR spoke with an ecstatic Quaine Henry after the competition just moments after he’d called his mother to give her the good news.
“I felt unique being the only boy in the competition,” said the nine-year-old Anse La Raye resident. “I love reading, it’s my favorite thing to do. My mom is encouraging. I just called her and she was happy, she couldn’t believe it. I’m excited about going to Dominica.”
Competition judge Anthony Felicien commended students on their performance and offered words of advice after the competition.
“We’d like to recommend in some cases that students pay attention to punctuation and intonation in some cases,” said Felicien. “You want someone reading before you who will capture your attention and keep it. We had some cases where we had this monotone, almost ready to cause us to drift. So please let us work on this.”
Competition prizes include $750 for third place, $1000 for second and $2000 for the winner. The winning school will also receive $2000. The regional finals for the Courts OECS Reading Competition will be held in Dominica on November 13.