Millions of pages have been turned and countless words have been read. Now schools across the state are celebrating their achievements in the Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Students from Reception to Year 12 at 94% of government and non-government schools took part in this year’s challenge, which required them to read 12 books between the start of Term 1 and Week 7 in Term 3. This means at least 1.4 million books were read!

The Challenge was introduced in 2004 to improve literacy levels and encourage students to read more books.

More than 100 students celebrated at a reception on Wednesday 20 November where some of the 122,000 students who completed the Challenge were presented with awards.

This year more than 26,500 students took part for the first time, and at least 26 received the highest award – the reader for life hall of fame award – for 14 years of completing the Challenge.

More than 2.4 million students have received awards since 2004, reading more than 29.2 million books.

Challenge ambassadors include noted children’s authors Phil Cummings, Katrina Germein and Mem Fox.

Department for Education Chief Executive Professor Martin Westwell said reading sparks the imagination and opens up the world to readers of all ages.

“An effective learner can understand the context of what they are reading, and as students progress through their learning, reading is crucial in helping them to understand concepts, make judgements, form opinions and increase empathy”.

“Then there’s reading for pleasure. For many people, the sheer joy of reading starts in childhood and remains with them throughout life. I congratulate all who have taken on this challenge and trust they will continue to enjoy reading, whether for learning or pleasure”.

Read more about the Premier’s Reading Challenge.