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The regional winners of the Read for My School national schools reading competition are announced this week

The 18 winners of the regional heats of Read for My School—the inaugural national schools reading competition—will be awarded their prizes by a host of children’s authors at nine ceremonies across England this week.

The Read for My School competition, organised by The Pearson Foundation and Booktrust, with support from the Department for Education, ran from 21 January to 22 March 2013 and involved thousands of primary school children in years five and six across England, who were challenged to read as many books as they could from eight categories.

The events, which are being hosted in eight Waterstones bookshops and Newcastle City Library from 20 to 24 May, will celebrate the impressive achievements of children, aged between nine and 11, who have won Awards for ‘Most Books Read’ and ‘Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read’ in the competition.

The winners will be awarded their prizes, which include an Amazon Kindle e-reader, £30 Waterstones voucher and 100 books for their school donated by Pearson, Penguin and DK, by the following authors: Andrew Cope; Anthony McGowan; Christopher William Hill; Cliff McNish; David Almond; Lissa Evans; Liz Pichon; and Sarah Lean.

David Almond, award-winning author of Skellig—one of the books that pupils were recommended to read for the competition—said:

Read for My School is a wonderful project. I'm really looking forward to celebrating with pupils who have made such brilliant achievements in reading. It’s fantastic to see the enthusiasm that this competition has encouraged and I look forward to meeting the winners.

The regional events are as follows:

• Yorkshire and Humberside: Monday 20 May, 11.30am - 1pm, Waterstones, Leeds – with Lissa Evans. WINNERS ANNOUNCED!  ‘Most Books Read’: Maariya Malik, Moorlands Primary School. ‘Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read’: Bethany Copeland, Bessacarr Primary School
  
  

• South West: Monday 20 May, 2pm - 3.30pm, Waterstones, Bath – with Sarah Lean
  WINNERS ANNOUNCED! Most Books Read’: Megan Benson, Webber’s CE Primary School. ‘Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read’: Jack Casey, Holt Voluntary Controlled Primary School.
  
  
• North West: Tuesday 21 May, 11.30am - 1pm, Waterstones, Manchester Deansgate – with Cliff McNish. WINNERS ANNOUNCED! ‘Most Books Read’: Isaiah Thorne-Marsh, Winwick CE Primary School.‘Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read’: Anna Baird, St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School
  
  

• South East: Wednesday 22 May, 10.30am - 12pm, Waterstones, Guildford - with Liz Pichon. WINNERS ANNOUNCED! 'Most Books Read': Yasmeen Khan, St. Andrew's CE Primary School. 'Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read': Joshua Cox, Woodlands Junior School

• London: Wednesday 22 May, 3pm - 4.30pm, Waterstones, London Piccadilly - with Anthony McGowan. WINNERS ANNOUNCED! 'Most Books Read': Ali Mesbahi, Al-Sadiq and Al-Zahra School. 'Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read': Saba Raza, Al-Sadiq and Al-Zahra School

• East of England: Thursday 23 May, 11am - 12.30pm, Waterstones, Cambridge – with Anthony McGowan. WINNERS ANNOUNCED! Most Books Read’: Caitlin Gray, Robert Bloomfield Academy, ‘Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read’: Eleanor Connery-Needham, Welwyn St. Mary’s School
  
• East Midlands: Thursday 23 May, 2pm - 3.30pm, Waterstones, Nottingham – with Christopher William Hill. WINNERS ANNOUNCED! Most Books Read’: Priyanka Gopalkaje, Fosse Way Academy, ‘Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read’: Rebecca Dixon, Havelock Junior School
  
  
• North East: Friday 24 May, 10 am - 11.30am, Newcastle City Library – with David Almond.‘Most Books Read’: WINNERS ANNOUNCED! Sally Cuming, Hill View Junior School, ‘Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read’: Claudia Colling, Hill View Junior School
  
  
• West Midlands: Friday 24 May, 3pm - 4.30pm, Waterstones, Birmingham High Street – with Andrew Cope. WINNERS ANNOUNCED! ‘Most Books Read’: Laiba Shafique, Parkfield Primary School, ‘Most Interesting Written Responses to Books Read’: Jodie Murphy, Greenholm Primary School
  

Viv Bird, Chief Executive at Booktrust, commented:

At Booktrust, we are absolutely delighted by the large numbers of schools and pupils that took part in our competition, and also hugely impressed by the amount of books that have been read and the quality of the children’s reviews of them. The regional winners are true champions, but all of the children are winners, having helped to further our ambition to ensure that every child is inspired to enjoy books, reading and writing and the lifelong benefits that they bring.

The winners of the regional heats will be entered into the running to win the two national awards, due to be presented on 18 June at a ceremony in London by Elizabeth Truss MP, Education and Childcare Minister and Jeremy Strong, children’s author and Read for My School spokesperson.

Find out more about Read for My School

Take a look at a gallery of photos of the winners at the events: