The PHILADELPHIA READS Philadelphia Reading Olympics is a city-wide jeopardy-style reading competition. The program goals are to inspire students to read for pleasure and to teach that success is linked to teamwork. The 2012 Reading Olympics engaged 1800 students in grades 4 - 8 on 167 teams. PHILADELPHIA READS Reading Olympics program partners are the Free Library of Philadelphia, the School District of Philadelphia, and the City of Philadelphia. The program is supported through generous corporate and foundation grants, and is powered by more than 200 community and corporate volunteers.
The Reading Olympics engages fourth through eighth graders from Philadelphia’s public, parochial, charter, independent and after-school programs in a reading competition. Teams of up to 12 students collectively read the books on the PHILADELPHIA READS Reading Olympics booklist and practice working together as a team to answer questions about those books.
The teams come together in May at an assigned college campus location to answer questions about the books. The teams accumulate points for every correct answer during three rounds of competition earning each team member a blue, red, or green ribbon based on the number of points their team has earned. Corporate and community Volunteers act as moderators and scorekeepers.