CHARLOTTE — Students from Catholic schools across the Diocese of Charlotte competed in the second annual St. Jerome Book Battle April 25 at the Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools Fine Arts Center in Charlotte. The reading competition is unique to the Diocese of Charlotte and was established by the diocese’s Catholic Schools Office to promote truth, goodness and beauty through reading literature.
The day consisted of two competitions, one for fourth- and fifth-graders and another for middle school students, who have been reading from a set of 15 books each.
After several preliminary quiz bowl-like rounds of 12 questions each, the two teams with the highest scores competed against each other in a final championship round.
St. Gabriel School won the fourth- and fifth-grade competition in the championship rounds against St. Ann School. Holy Trinity Middle School won the middle school competition against Our Lady of the Assumption School.
Other Catholic schools in the competition included Our Lady of Grace, Our Lady of Mercy, Sacred Heart, St. Leo, St. Mark, St. Matthew and St. Patrick.
Sponsors of the competition included TAN Books, Good & True Media and Bright Wings: Children’s Books.
Brian and Kevin Gallagher of TAN Books spoke at the event and donated a set of books to the schools of the winning teams. Bright Wings: Children’s Books helped determine the selected books.
— Annie Ferguson
