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Bookmans School Challenge 2012

Let's celebrate the top 10 semifinalists in the 2012 Bookmans School Challenge. Turn on Kool and the Gang, put your party hats on and celebrate good times for the schools representing the most creative and innovative applicants vying for the grand prize of $15,000 in cash. Overwhelmed and overjoyed by applications from all over Arizona, we narrowed contenders down to 10 schools whose proposals revealed dynamic efforts in and outside of the classroom.

We're giving the semifinalists Bookmans School Challenge Flip cameras so they can create short videos explaining their submissions to the public. We will link two videos daily for viewing on our Facebook page starting Feb. 6. Find a school that inspires you and get ready to vote. We will post a poll on Facebook* on Feb. 11 so the public (that's you!) can determine one of the three finalists!

Let's celebrate these sensational schools:

Apache Junction High School-Apache Junction
Apollo Middle School-Tucson
Brinton Elementary School-Mesa
Cortez High School-Phoenix
Flagstaff Arts & Leadership Academy-Flagstaff
Leupp Elementary School-Flagstaff
Manzo Elementary School-Tucson
Mountain Sky Middle School-Phoenix
Palo Verde Magnet Engineering and Technology High School-Tucson
Sewell Elementary School-Tucson

We read each and every application and appreciate the dedication to public education in Arizona. We thank every school for the effort it took to submit an entry and encourage all schools to learn about the other ways Bookmans can help support your teachers, students and school with Project Educate, READ 10 and our youth programs.

* You do not have to like Bookmans on Facebook to vote in the poll, but you will need an account.

Bookmans School Challenge 2012 Press Release

We're shaking things up this year with our 2012 Bookmans School Challenge. No longer the Reading Challenge, the name change is the least of what we have in store. New and expanded conditions include:
* Two additional schools will receive awards as we give away a total of $21,000 in cash!
* High schools, middle schools, junior highs and elementary schools -- all public and charter school configurations are encouraged to apply!
* Online applications accepted starting October 1, 2011.
One school will still receive $15,000 and the challenge is still open to public and charter schools in Arizona and proximate to our stores in Flagstaff, Mesa, Phoenix and Tucson.

Complete our online application today, check our simple FAQ or read on for additional details.

We are proud of Arizona students who read and reported on more than 2 million books since the inception of the Bookmans Reading Challenge and we are inspired by the myriad of ways schools accomplished this great feat. Our new challenge allows us insight into your creative programs that helped your students reach these numbers but we don't want to hem you into reading programs -- or paper work. OH! The trees we are going to save with this new challenge!

In the initial application schools will tell us who they are as a school community, what they do well and how they plan to apply that to where they need help. A team of Bookmans Entertainment Exchange employees will evaluate each application looking for inspired, creative and enthusiastic proposals and select our top ten. Those ten schools will move to phase two of our contest by entering a short video explaining their proposal to the public. Three schools, one selected by popular vote and two by committee, will enter the final phase where they will host a visit/interview from the Bookmans team so we can meet in person. All three of these schools will be winners because these schools will rise to the 2012 Bookmans School Challenge. For this reason we will reward the runners up $3,000 each. Only one school will rise to the very top and for their efforts Bookmans will award that school $15,000.

We don't want the momentum to stop there. We want to hear all year round from each school entering the Bookmans School Challenge. We know how hard educators work and what great work can be accomplished by students. Tweet us, e-mail us, tag us on Facebook telling us what your schools are doing to encourage life-long learning.

Important Bookmans School Challenge Dates:
October 1 to December 1, 2011 -- Initial applications accepted. New deadline: December 31, 2011!
January 9, 2012 -- Ten semi-finalists announced.
February 3, 2012 -- Short videos from semi-finalists showcasing their proposals are due.
February 6 to 10, 2012 -- School videos uploaded to Bookmans Facebook page at a rate of two per day.
February 11 to 17, 2012 -- Videos will be open to voting.
February 20, 2012 -- Three finalists announced and site visits scheduled.
March 6, 2012 -- The 2012 Bookmans School Challenge winner is announced!

Complete our online application today.

Read on to learn about the Bookmans Reading Challenge winners from 2007 to 2011.

Schumaker librarian Ms.
Riveras

2007 Winner: Schumaker

In 2007, we challenged over 10,800 students in 25 Tucson Unified School District elementary schools to read as many books as they could from the beginning of February to the end of April. When the final numbers rolled in on May 1st, we were overwhelmed to discover that students had read more than 100,000 books throughout the course of the Challenge. Schumaker Elementary School's 331 participating students read nearly 14,000 books alone, and their awesome numbers (highest average of books read per student) garnered them the grand prize of $5,000.

It has amazed me, that with the simple idea of a reading challenge to see how many books we can read, the amount of enthusiasm that my students have at this moment to read. Everyday they are asking me "can I go to the library?" Or "can I read now?" Shawna Bonnin, Webster Elementary School teacher

Rio Vista librarian Stephanie
Quimby-Greene.

2008 Winners: Rio Vista and Webster

During our second annual Reading Challenge, students from 19 participating elementary schools in Tucson and 16 participating elementary schools in Mesa read over 270,000 books, blowing the previous year's number out of the water. Rio Vista Elementary School's librarian, Stephanie Quimby-Greene, helped lead the Tucson school to an incredible average of 20 books read per student, per month, and to the $5,000 grand prize. In Mesa, Webster Elementary School won the $5,000 prize, with over 33,000 books during the Challenge. Their librarian, Celia Gonzales-Hughes, helped them to an average of 13 books read per student, per month.

Webster librarians.

2009 Winners: Village Vista, Peak & Sonoran Science Academy - Broadway

In 2009, the Reading Challenge expanded from Tucson and the Phoenix area to include Flagstaff, encompassing 47 participating schools. The three winning schools - Village Vista Elementary in Phoenix, Peak Elementary in Flagstaff, and Sonoran Science Academy (Broadway) - accounted for more than 37,000 books read in the overall Challenge.

Thank you Bookmans for allowing us the opportunity to exceed our reading goals and achieve more than we ever thought possible. The $5,000 will be such a blessing to our reading program in a time of state district budget cuts." Jan Stevens, Village Vista Elementary School Principal

2010 Winner: Academy Adventures Primary School

In 2010, our Reading Challenge changed, and we awarded a single winning school a $15,000 cash prize. Throughout the three months of the 2010 Bookmans’ Reading Challenge, participating Arizona students read over 1,063,380 books (in under 85 days--quite an accomplishment). The second and third place schools were each awarded $1,000 gift certificates to Bookmans. Academy Adventures Primary School in Tucson pushed itself to the limit in March to emerge triumphant, reading an astounding average of 329 books per student--more than 3 books a day. Congratulations to the students and staff at Academy Adventures on a job very well done! Be sure to check out the video of the award ceremony below:

2011 Winner: Weinberg

Congratulations to the 2011 Reading Challenge winner Weinberg Elementary! Check out our thermometer to discover how each of the participating schools did in the challenge. Great work students!