THE Jamaica Library Service (JLS) is looking to attract approximately 4,000 participants for the 2025 National Reading Competition.

This year’s edition, which was launched on April 5 at the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Library, is being held under the theme ‘Keeping Reading Alive in 2025’.

The competition aims to foster a strong culture of reading and support the country’s literacy goals.

Some 3,133 readers across the island, representing the various age group categories: 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-20, and 21 and older, participated in the 2024 renewal.

Participants this year will, once again, vie for prizes and to be named reading champion for their respective age group category at the parish and national levels.

Testing at each stage of the competition includes a mix of oral and written elements such as letters, book reviews, and puzzles.

The competitors’ ability to read, understand and interpret set books or excerpts of books are the main determinants for the selection of winners.

Director of corporate communications and marketing at JLS, Royane Green said that readers will be exposed to Caribbean literature, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and financial literacy material.

He pointed out that one of this year’s exciting features is a televised quiz final during which participants will answer questions based on the books they have read for the competition.

Green maintained that developing a culture of reading is vital to “our personal development, community development and national development”.

“Reading helps your creativity. It helps with language acquisition; expands vocabulary; deepens cultural awareness of self, of nation, of the region, the Caribbean, as we expose our readers to a diverse range of literature,” he said.

Green emphasised that, “if we have more literate and more reading-centred individuals in the population we will have a lot more creativity in all the sectors of society”.