Elementary and junior high students from across Vicksburg competed Thursday for a chance to take their reading project to the state competition.

The Vicksburg Warren School District held its annual reading fair at Vicksburg Auditorium Thursday.

Pre-K through eighth-grade students waited and watched 27 judges walk around the auditorium floor evaluating each of their tri-fold project board. The reading fair projects were based on a book of the student’s choice.

“Basically it’s a visual book report,” said Mary Ann Peoples, Vicksburg Junior High librarian and district reading fair coordinator.

Students read books that fell were either categorized as information texts or literary narrative.

The literary narrative project boards must display the book title, author, publication information, plot summary, main characters, setting, conflict, solution and a comparison.

“With fiction they learn all of their basics, the setting, characters, the main ideas of the story,” People said.

The information text project boards must display the name of the book, author, publication information, a book summary, identify the main idea, identify the main purpose, recommend another book and a explain connection the student has with the book.

“They are actually becoming more popular because kids don’t necessarily like to read informational texts but they are reading now to compete and do visual book reports,” Peoples said.

Students from St. Francis Xavier participated with the public school district in the reading fair.

Each of the local school’s librarians set up the framework for their school’s competition with students typically getting anywhere from a month to a month and a half to complete the project starting in November.

“It wouldn’t work without the help of all the librarians. They do so much to get ready for this big fair. Every single librarian participates from K through eight, and that’s just awesome,” Peoples said.

The top finalist in each division from each school moved on to Thursday’s district wide competition. Those finalists competed Thursday for a chance to go to the state competition as the district representative. Peoples estimated there were about 120 projects competing to represent the district.

Each school’s second and third place finishers went to the auditorium Thursday to compete in the excellence in reading completion for their good work.

“They do get to compete even though they’re not going to regionals,” Peoples said.

The 27 judges came from the community and consisted of retired teachers, parents, law enforcement officers, librarians, government officials and more.

“We have judges from all over the city of Vicksburg,” Peoples said. “It’s just an eclectic mix of community leaders, volunteers, parents, retired teachers, who volunteered their time to come and judge the fair for us.”

The judges were looking for durability, originality, creativity and they made sure all the required information was included. Then judges interviewed the students with three questions to make sure they retained what they learned from the book.

The competition is divided into three categories: individual literary fiction and non-fiction narratives, individual informational non-fiction texts, and group/family literary fiction and non-fiction narratives. Then each category is split into divisions.

In individual narratives there are six divisions: A—kindergarten, B—first grade, C—second grade, D—third grade, E—fourth and fifth grade, and F—sixth through eighth grade.

Division A Winners 

with placement, name, book, teacher, grade and school are:

• First, Aubrey Rankin, The Three Little Pigs, Peck, kindergarten, Bowmar

• Second, Arlo Walshire, Dinotrux, Herbert, kindergarten, Beechwood

• Third, Matthew Appleton, Biscuit Goes to School, Ming, kindergarten, Redwood

Division A Excellence:

• First, Molly Ming, The Very Fairy Princess, Brantley, kindergarten, Bowmar

• Second, Khloe Lee, Pinkalicious, Artman, kindergarten, Beechwood

• Third, Jimmy Zishman, The Magic School Bus, Herbert, kindergarten, Beechwood

Division B winners:

• First, Julee Ann Guines, Fancy Nancy Day in Room 1-A, Gordon, first grade, Bovina

• Second, Madyson Brown, Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in Her Pocket, Lindsey, first, Dana Road

• Third, Emma Kate Graham, Pinkalicious and Aqua the Mini-Mermaid, Busby, first grade, South Park

Division B Excellence:

• First, Joye Minor, Tallulah Tap Shoes, Webb, first grade, Dana Road

• Second, Rashuan McRaven, The Day the Crayons Came Home, Gordon, first grade, Bovina

• Third, Whitt Loper, Jangles: A Big Fish Story, Morson, first grade, Redwood

Division C Winners:

• First, Jay’den Gower, The Day the Crayons Quit, Slack, second grade, Dana Road

• Second, Annie Tucker, Pinkalicious and the Hat Parade, Hughey, second grade, Redwood

• Third, Jackson Rainer, Dragon Masters Power of the Fire Dragon, Gochran, second grade, Bovina

Division C Excellence: 

• First, Kenley Henderson, Froggy Bakes a Cake, Moss, second grade, Dana Road

• Second, Lundyn Reece, Snip Snap What’s That!, Hughey, second grade, Redwood

• Third, Dayton Tolliver, The Three Little Pigs, Mixon, second grade, Bovina

Division D Winners: 

• First, Kara Rowe, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Gordon, third grade, South Park

• Second, Cayden Wells, Katie Kazoo Switcheroo: No Messing with my Lesson, Cares, third grade, Warrenton

• Third, Jacob Bryant, Indian in the Cupboard, Burt, third grade, Bovina

Division D Excellence:

• First, Peyton Hoben, The BFG, Hughes, third grade, Bovina

• Second, Ae’Ryl Jones, Buzz Beaker & the Race to School, Dill, third grade, Dana Road

• Third, Blake Hern, Stick Cat, Hughes, third grade, Bovina

Division E Winners:

• First, Taliyah Curry, Nancy Clancy – Secret of the Silver Key, Kealhofer, fourth grade, Vicksburg Intermediate School

• Second, Steven Clement, The Murk, Phillips, fifth grade, St. Francis Catholic School

• Third, Josie Huntley, The Power of Three Warriors, Lee, fifth grade, Bovina

Division E Excellence:

• First, Clark Hobson, Linebacker Block, teacher, fourth grade, St. Francis Catholic School

• Second, Maliya Shelton, Zoozical, Goodwin, fifth grade, Warrenton

• Third, Addison Leach, The Time of the Fireflies, Lee, fifth grade, Bovina

Division F Winners:

• First, Skylar Tweedle, Dork Diaries: Not So Happily After, Barnes, sixth grade, Beechwood

• Second, Mateo Byrd, The Alchemyst, Bradley, sixth grade, Bowmar

• Third, Nolan Gullet, The Blackthorn Key, Baggett, seventh grade, Warren Central Junior High

Division F Excellence:

• First, Jeanette Bantugan, Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning, Catchings, sixth grade, Warrenton

• Second, Taliya Jenkins, The Wild Girls, Thompson, eight grade, Warren Central Junior High

• Third, Breonna Smith, Grace For President, Arthur, sixth grade, Bovina

In individual texts there are two divisions: H—third through fifth grade and I—sixth through eight grade.

Division H Winners 

with placement, name, book, teacher, grade and school are:

• First, Gabriel Thompson, Barefootin’, teacher, grade, Warrenton

• Second, Ty’Shon Hill, Fredrick Douglas, Dill, third grade, Dana Road

• Third, Nancy Clement, This Star Won’t Go Out, Ehrgott, fifth grade, St. Francis Catholic School

Division H Excellence:

• First, Destiny Perkins, A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman, Goodwin, fifth grade, Warrenton

• Second, Morgan Rouse, Two Bobbies, Coleman, fifth grade, Beechwood

• Third, Kerri Huell, Starfish, Cranfield, third grade, St. Francis Catholic School

Division I Winners:

• First, Kyle Callon, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, DeRossette, sixth grade, Bowmar

• Second, Keshaun Perkins, Everyday I Sing the Blues: The Story of BB King, Douglas, eighth grade, Vicksburg Junior High

• Third, Jamon Jefferson, Emmett Till, Baggett, seventh grade, Warren Central Junior High

Division I Excellence:

• First, Jason Williams, The African American Rivalry, teacher, grade, St. Francis Catholic School

• Second, Robin Hughes, Wild Horses, Barnes, sixth grade, Beechwood

• Third, Kameron Wallace, I am Lebron James, DeRossette, sixth grade, Bowmar

Finally for group narratives there are three divisions: K—Pre-K through second grade, L—third through fifth grade, and M—sixth through eighth grade.

Division K Winners 

with placement, name, book, teacher, grade and school are:

• First, Briana Hoye, Bear Can’t Sleep, Dean, first grade, Bowmar

• Second, Ella Opperman, The Thing About Yetis, Morson, first grade, Redwood

• Third, Kira Melton, Lady Bug Girl, Mixon, second grade, Bovina

Division K Excellence:

• First, Megan Holman, The Giving Tree, McBride, grade, Bovina

• Second, Joshua Williamson, Magic Tree House, Hughey, second grade, Redwood

• Third, Justin Greer, Ninjas, Hughey, second grade, Redwood

Division L Winners:

• First, Tatum Watts, How to Make an Apple Pie & See the World, Hamilton, fourth grade, Bowmar

• Second, Quentin Warren, The Lorax, Green, third grade, Dana Road

• Third, Torrey Turner, Ghost Detectives, teacher, grade, Vicksburg Intermediate School

Division L Excellence:

• First, Stafford Truesdell, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, Gordon, third grade, South Park

• Second, Christian Henderson, The Blues of Flats Brown, Varnado, fifth grade, Vicksburg Intermediate School

• Third, Jazmine Williams, Grace for President, teacher, fourth grade, Warrenton

Division M Winners:

• First, Kennedi McDonald, Tornado, teacher, grade, Vicksburg Intermediate School,

•Second, Stella Edwards and Hannah Tennison, Hoot, Bradley and DeRossette, sixth grade, Bowmar

• Third, Chandler Jones and Cameron Jackson, The Lightning Thief, Thompson, eighth grade, Warren Central Junior High

Division M Excellence:

• First, Shania Brown, Dork Diaries – Tales from a not so Dorky Drama Queen, teacher, grade, Vicksburg Intermediate School

• Second, Elizabeth Shamblin and Finley Jones, If I Stay, Buford, eighth grade, Warren Central Junior High

• Third, Madison Ashley and Katherine Barnett, Eleanor and Park, Thompson, grade, Warren Central Junior High

Only the first place contestant in each division moved on to the regional competition. The regional reading fair will be held at the Mississippi School for the Deaf in Jackson March 3.