This year, Marlene Rubai from Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium in Sankt Ingbert came out on top in the district reading competition organised by district youth worker Beate Hussong.
A total of twelve grade 6 winners from secondary schools in the Saarpfalz district took part in the district competition. District Administrator Frank John said at the opening ceremony: "I confess my passion for reading fantasy books. There are a thousand good reasons to read. Perhaps one of them is to take part in the reading competition and be one of the best readers in Germany. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all the readers to make it through to the next stage and would like to thank everyone for their contribution, especially the jury."
The first task was to read a text from a specially selected book to the jury and the auditorium for exactly three minutes. This was followed by a text from another author from the book "Secrets of Black Manor (1) The Gift of Dreamers" by Maria Hart. You could have heard a pin drop as all the participants read their texts with great passion and concentration and the audience listened to them. This did not make the decision easy for the jury members.
The jury was made up of Ines Wahle from the KiBiSS project of the Saarpfalz district, the district winner 2025 Eliana Omlor, Natalia Timoschkov, employee of the Thalia bookshop in Homburg, and Andrea Sailer, head of the Homburg municipal library.
After their detailed deliberations, it was clear: Marlene Rubai was the district winner. She has thus qualified for the state final in May, which will take place at the Saarbrücker Zeitung in Gutenbergstraße in Saarbrücken. Perhaps Marlene Rubai will also make it to the final at national level in June. The Saarpfalz district wishes her every success in this endeavour.
All of the readers emerged from the competition with a wealth of experience. In addition to a certificate, they all received the book "Rocky Winterfeld - Ziemlich neben der Spur" by Marie Hüttner for their commitment. The Thalia bookshop also presented the district winner with a voucher worth 20 euros.
Background:
The participants and their books:
- Lewin Anstadt, Von der Leyen-Gymnasium Blieskastel, "Woodwalkers - Carag's Transformation", by Katja Brandis
- Demian Dylan Bühl-Wolf, GMS Robert-Bosch-Schule, Homburg, "Shit-making: very good", by Tobias Steinfeld
- Victoria Lacambra Flotats, Gymnasium Johanneum, Homburg, "Spukalarm in der Schokofabrik", by Mascha Matysiak
- Luiza Imiela, GMS Schmelzerwaldschule, Mandelbachtal, "Karma Girl - The girl who couldn't lie", by Radhika Sanghani
- Leonie Kreis, Christian von Mannlich-Gymnasium, Homburg, "Free", by Sarah Welk
- Moritz Elias Lauer, Saarpfalz-Gymnasium, Homburg, "The Magic Knife", by Philip Pullman
- Amelie Nickel, Albertus-Magnus-Realschule, St. Ingbert, "And suddenly Mrs Honig was there", by Sabine Bohlmann
- Marlene Rubai, Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium, St. Ingbert, "The School for Day and Night Magic", by Gina Mayer
- Noah Schlosser, GMS Galileo-Schule, Bexbach, "The Book of Strange Wishes", by Angie Westhoff
- Anna Marie Straub, Gemeinschaftsschule (GMS) St. Ingbert-Rohrbach, "Find me in Paris - Dance through time", by Carola Wimmer
- Louisa Völkle, Leibniz-Gymnasium, St. Ingbert, "Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Lord", by Nancy Springer
- Ella Mathilda Wolff, GMS Geschwister-Scholl-Schule, Blieskastel, "The three ??? and the 5th Advent", by Robert Arthur
Between the end of January and the end of February, the nationwide reading competitions took place at city and district level. According to the Book Culture and Reading Promotion Foundation of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, around 7,100 school winners competed in the nationwide reading competition.