Reading Olympics 2019 Kicks Off in Honor of Professor Juan Bosch

Santo Domingo, June 11, 2019 – With the goal of encouraging good reading habits among the younger generations, as well as contribute to the strengthening of Dominican culture, the Office of the Vice President of the Republic and the Children and Youth Library (BIJRD) announced the upcoming Ninth Reading Olympics Contest 2019, in honor of Dominican author Professor Juan Bosch.

This initiative, sponsored by Vice President Dr. Margarita Cedeño, also wants to encourage participants to strengthen their reading comprehension skills as well as their oral and written capacity. At the same time, the Reading Olympics also promotes the values of Professor Bosch, one of the country’s top intellectuals, humanist and Dominican writers.

Aside from presenting the works of Professor Bosch, participants will also analyze the short stories and poems written by Dominican writers Virgilio Díaz Grullón, Pedro Henríquez Ureña and other important national and international literary figures.

Participants will fill out a card summarizing the text they read, as well as other pertinent data referring to the book. Later on, organizers will ask them questions regarding the text read in order to confirm that they understood the material.

The winners will be chosen depending on the number of cards they are able to present by the end of the event. The cards will express their particular opinions on the characters, plot, and the period when the story takes place, as well as information on the author.

The Reading Olympics is held each year to honor Professor Juan Bosch. The event is held around the time of Professor Bosch’s birth date. It is a way of familiarizing Dominican youth with the work this Dominican writer and politician carried out in favor of Dominican literature.

The winners in each category will receive books, laptop computers, tablets and medals.

Contest Rules

Participants must be between the ages of seven to 18. All together, there are four categories: for children between seven and nine years of age; from 10 to 12; from 13-15 and from 16-18. All participants must attend all the activities that will be held from June 1-22.

Registration and additional information are available at the Infant Category (Categories A and B), and in the Youth Category (Categories C and D). Hours are from Monday-Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For further information, please call 809-685-4276.

How to Participate

Participants must attend all events regarding the life and work of the authors. They must also prepare creative compositions on the works they have read. For each story read, the participant must fill out a card that must summarize the story, and present their particular opinion on the text read.

Evaluations

Organizers will analyze the stories and the capacity of the participants to get their message across through the written text, oral presentations, correct use of grammar and spelling, and the number of books and short stories read.

Each year between 500 to 700 children and young Dominicans participate in the Reading Olympics. From the very opening day, the children fill the Library’s main reading areas.