Suffolk Book League continued to support the Schools Mastermind by awarding book tokens to the winning schools at this year’s Regional Final. The competition took place at the Riverside Centre at Stratford St Andrew on Friday 5 May. Students taking part represented seven schools: Claydon, Debenham, Farlingaye, Ipswich School, Sir John Leman, Thomas Mills and Pakefield.
The competition has two rounds: firstly quick-fire timed questions about books selected by the young competitors and a second round on general knowledge. Some of the questions were really tough and the Mastermind format was fun though it also created a sense of tension in the audience. Katie Hill from Ipswich School won the Final for the second time in a row. Her chosen book for the specialist round was Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu. Samuel Harbord from Pakefield High School in Lowestoft was runner-up; Dexter Jackson from Sir John Leman in Beccles was placed third. It was a pleasure to attend and to present prizes to these three very impressive young readers. The Halesworth Bookshop was there to exchange for books the book tokens that had been given to the participants.
After the competition the day continued with a wonderful talk by bestselling local YA writer Annaliese Avery. She gave a fascinating presentation, talked about her own writing process and set the students some interesting and absorbing creative activities.
All the schools involved said how much they enjoyed taking part and the organisers thanked Suffolk Book League for once again sponsoring the annual competition.
by Gill Lowe
