Before the winter holidays, the regional round of the reading competition was launched at the Homburg Forum. The German Book Trade Reading Competition has been organised every year since 1959 in cooperation with the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. Eight girls and three boys from Year 6 at secondary schools in the Saarpfalz district had already been entered last year as school winners for the district competition in February by district youth welfare officer Beate Hussong. First District Councillor Markus Schaller, himself a German teacher at a grammar school, congratulated them on passing the first hurdle: "Reading enriches your life and your everyday life. The book authors manage to take you on an exciting journey into the past, present and future, just like a time machine. I wish you every success here and at school".
The task was to read a three-minute text from a book of their choice and a two-minute passage as a foreign text from the fantasy book "Skyborn - Die Goldflügel-Prüfung" by Jessica Khoury and Anja Hansen-Schmidt. The story about a heroine and a hero was chosen by Andrea Sailer, head of the city library and member of the jury. Other jury members were last year's winner Jasmin Schmidt from Johanneum grammar school, Dr Jutta Schwan and Dr Andreas Stinsky from the Saarpfalz district's cultural management department. The readers were Frieda Ehrhardt (Von-der-Leyen-Gymnasium), Kalea Rammo (Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium), Levin Schabarum (Geschwister Scholl-Schule), Nele Schuh (Albertus-Magnus-Realschule), Alissia Musso (Leibniz-Gymnasium), Alexander Scheidt (Gemeinschaftsschule Kirkel), Emilia Bächle (Saarpfalz-Gymnasium), Emily Arend (Gemeinschaftsschule Gersheim), Janick Finn Schappert (Gemeinschaftsschule Neue Sandrennbahn), Niklas Andler (Gymnasium Johanneum), Eliana Omlor (Christian von Mannlich-Gymnasium). Another school winner from the Robert Bosch School was unable to take part due to illness. All were well prepared and captivated the jury and the audience of teachers, parents and grandparents alike.
"The jury's decision was not easy. They were all very committed and deserve applause for their courage in reading aloud in front of a large audience. There is no ranking list. All the readers deserve special praise for their performances," emphasised Dr Jutta Schwan when presenting the certificates and the book gift "The Wondrous Talents of the Kalendario Siblings" by Louisa Söllner. On behalf of the jury, she announced that Eliana Omlor from Mannlich-Gymnasium had qualified as the district winner for the reading competition at state level in Saarbrücken in May. Her reading technique and her interpretation of "The Secret Dragon School" by Emily Skye and the passage from a foreign text convinced the jury. And to ensure that Eliana Omlor did not run out of reading material, she also received the winning book "Res wants to go home" by Jasmine Warga. District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo is delighted with the commitment shown by parents and schools. "Children who are read to have better educational opportunities. Every year on the third Friday in November, there is the nationwide Read Aloud Day. Perhaps the readers of today will be the readers of tomorrow who want to use their passion to get involved in reading," said the district administrator in his congratulations to the district winner.