PORT ANGELES — Forty-four Clallam County sites from Port Angeles and Sequim to Neah Bay will participate in this year’s annual Clallam County Literacy Council Reading Contest in January and February.
Participants will include public and private schools, tribal schools, Head Start programs, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula and the North Olympic Library System, which oversees public libraries in Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks and Clallam Bay, organizers said.
Each site will have a contact person who manages the program with site staff. Teachers or site staff will encourage students to read books.
As each student completes a book, the student completes a bookworm form indicating which book has been read and drops it off in the contest box, usually placed in a common area or the school library.
At the end of the contest month, site staff will draw 25 winning entries from the forms.
Each winner will get a free book. Each grand prize winner will receive a $20 gift card.
Each site will use contest materials in different ways, such as adding rafflebooks or hosting weekly free book drawings.
Gift cards are donated or discounted by Forks Outfitters, Swain’s General Store in Port Angeles and Sequim’s Clallam Co-op.
The literacy council, a partner agency of the United Way of Clallam County, distributes between 6,000 and 9,000 books each year.
It involves community businesses in literacy outreach efforts through its Bookworm Basket Campaign, where baskets of books are located in businesses where children wait.
The council also provides free adult tutoring, donating books at events and to food banks and nonprofits, and through its annual Reading Contest.
Those who want to become involved in the council’s efforts can contact the council through the United Way of Clallam County, P.O. Box 937, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or call 360-457-3011.
For more information, see www.clallamreads.org.
