When 21-year-old Peter Haynes, a two-time National Reading Competition champion isn’t diving into a good book, he enjoys holding a good conversation in one of the seven languages he speaks.
“Apart from English, I am proficient in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian (and) Japanese,” Peter, who hails from Portland, tells JIS News.
In August, he was awarded the 15-20 National Champion for 2021, by the Jamaica Library Service (JLS), and the overall champion among all age groups in the annual contest. Before that, he was the 12-14 National Champion in 2015.
Overall, he has been entering the competition for over a decade, even before his national wins. These stints might not come as a surprise to anyone who knows Peter, as he has always had and displayed a love for reading.
In fact, Peter explains that some of the languages he speaks, were introduced to him through books.
“I did Spanish for a third of high school but the other languages, I taught myself from books, movies and tutorials on how to actually enunciate the words,” he says.
An agency of the Ministry of Education and Youth, the JLS uses the National Reading Competition to promote reading, literature, and literacy in general.
Peter says the contest has had several impacts on his life such as fostering an appreciation for Caribbean Literature, which he feels “is not given the credit it deserves”.
“The pieces from authors in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean are immaculate,” he points out.
At the recently held awards ceremony, where the National champions for both 2021 and 2022 were feted with prizes, JLS Board Chairman, Paul Lalor, notes that the competition has been held consecutively for the past 35 years.
Elements of the National Reading competition include letter writing, book reviews, crossword puzzles, and alternative story endings. These activities determine the parish champions.
The national winners are then determined from additional rounds of competition. The contest runs from April to August, each year, and is open to Jamaicans aged six to 99.
A confident Peter reminisces that “I’ve met some wonderful people, won wonderful prizes and garnered experiences that will be the stuff of a lifetime. Had it not been for the National Reading Competition, I wouldn’t be the well-rounded person I am today”.
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Mickella Anderson, JIS
National Champion in the 21 and over age group for this year’s National Reading Competition and the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Library Network’s representative, Adlyn Smith Graham (second left, front row), and 15-20 National Champion for contest’s 2021 staging, Peter Haynes (second right, front row) from the Portland Parish Library Network, proudly display their trophies, during the awards ceremony held recently at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. Both received the highest overall score in the 2022 and 2021 staging of the annual contest, respectively. They are flanked by (foreground, from left) Jamaica Library Service (JLS) Director General, Maureen Thompson, and Board Chairman, Paul Lalor. Also sharing the moment are (background, from left) Chief Executive Officer, VM Foundation, Samantha Charles; Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise’s Cindy Breakspeare, and Project Manager, Geo-Tech Vision, Stephen Wedderburn.
