Thousands of children and young people across Victoria have embarked on countless adventures from the confines of their favourite reading nooks – as part of this year’s Premiers’ Reading Challenge.
Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins today congratulated the more than 74,000 participants of the 2022 Premiers’ Reading Challenge, which contributed to the collective total of 2.9 million books being read.
The Challenge – which is now in its 18th year – encouraged avid readers across households, early childhood centres and schools to read a set number of books over the year and record their efforts online, with this year’s theme being ‘Discover a new chapter’.
It asked children below school age to read 40 books with their parents or carers; children from Prep to Year 2 to read 30 books with or without assistance and students in Years 3 to 10 to read 15 books.
The Challenge booklist has a variety of books for each age group to select, with titles curated by an expert panel including teachers and librarians.
Since the Premiers’ Reading Challenge began in 2005, more than 4 million children and young people have read 57 million books.
The Challenge also compliments Victoria’s excellent 2021 NAPLAN results, which clearly showed the lift in the number of top performing primary school students in reading since 2015.
Each participant who meets the Challenge receives a certificate of achievement signed by the Premier.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins
“Reading is one of the most important skills our children and young people can learn from an early age and the Premiers’ Reading Challenge is a fantastic way of encouraging this.”
“Congratulations to every child and young person – along with their parents and carers – who signed up for this year’s Challenge and discovered a new chapter to enjoy.”
Reviewed 01 October 2022