Paekākāriki School and Te Horo Schools win libraries’ annual Mastermind Competition
School-aged literature lovers were in Waikanae today vying for top spot in this year’s Mastermind Competition.
More than 40 of the district’s most well-read school children filled the Waikanae Baptist Church for Kāpiti Coast District Libraries’ Mastermind Competition final this morning.
The annual literature competition has 10 to 13-year-olds testing their knowledge on the books that were finalist in New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young People.
Council’s Libraries and Arts Manager Leeann Morgan said it was a closely-run competition.
“All the students showed great sportsmanship and fantastic knowledge of the books,” she said.
“The competition is aimed at broadening children's literary awareness, it motivates them to learn and encourages them to visit the libraries to grow their knowledge and love of literature.
“It’s also one of the few opportunities students have for interschool competition that’s not sports based and the breadth of knowledge the students showed would challenge some adults.”
The competition included two heats on Monday and Tuesday where the top three junior and senior teams were picked to progress through to today’s final. The final scores were:
Junior Results
1st Place - Paekākāriki School – 56 points
2nd Place - Te Horo School – 50 points
3rd Place - Raumati South – 45 points
Senior Results
1st Place - Te Horo (Team 1) School – 59 points
2nd Place - Raumati South School – 56 points
3rd Place - Te Horo (Team 2) School – 55 points
Local author Mandy Hager – who has been nominated in the Young Adult section of the book awards for her Singing Home the Whale – awarded the prizes to the finalists.
Kāpiti Coast District Council, Paper Plus, Moby Dickens Book Shop, Weta Workshop, Friends of the Library and Warehouse Stationery all sponsored the competition.