YALSA and World Wrestling Entertainment congratulate David Silva, Orlando, Fla., and Ajoura Gwinn, Munhall, Pa., on becoming the 2008 WrestleMania Reading Challenge Champions! Silva beat out four others in the grades 7-8 category by answering questions about Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman, while Gwinn bested four competitors in the grades 9-12 category with her knowledge of Ball Don't Lie by Matt de la Pena. The WrestleMania Reading Challenge Championship was held Saturday, March 29, at the Orlando Public Library.
Gwinn and Silva each won ringside tickets to WrestleMania XXIV on March 30, as well as a trophy, signed books from both authors, and plenty of goodies from YALSA and WWE. Both Trueman and de la Pena appeared as judges at the event, which was emceed by WWE announcer Jimmy Hart and featured guest quizmasters and WWE wrestlers CM Punk, The Miz, and Matt Striker.
Each finalist won airfare, hotel, and spending cash for two to Orlando, tickets to WrestleMania XXIV, and $2,000 for their library. The WrestleMania Reading Challenge, sponsored by WWE, asked teen participants in grades 7-12 to read 10 books between Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007, and January 14, 2008. Each teen participant was required to submit a short reading log that described the books that have been read. Participants could then submit a short essay on the topic, “How Wrestling Inspired Me to Read.” The winning entry from each library was submitted to YALSA and one winner in each category from each region was chosen as a national finalist.
To see the full list of finalists, please visit the WrestleMania Reading Challenge Finalists page.
Photos: Top, YALSA Executive Director Beth Yoke, WrestleMania Reading Challenge Champion David Silva, and Terry Trueman; Bottom, Terry Trueman, WrestleMania Reading Challenge Champion Ajoura Gwinn, YALSA Executive Director Beth Yoke, and Matt de la Pena.