The Kids' Lit Quiz
Cliciwch yma am fersiwn Cymraeg
I actually took part in the Kids' Lit Quiz about two years ago, but it was only recently that it occurred to me to write about it.
It was one of the best experiences of my (short) life so far and I hope that people reading this would be inspired to give it a go (This is my first attempt at writing for the website, so cut me some slack!).
The Kids' Lit Quiz is an international literature competition that runs once a year, for children roughly aged 10-13. There are heats in many countries all over the world and the winning teams from these heats go on to represent their country in the World Final, held at a different venue each year.
As the name suggests, the questions asked are based on literature and authors, although there have been categories in the past based on film as well.
The Quizmaster is called Wayne Mills, a brilliantly dynamic man who, each year, tirelessly gallivants around the world, posing his questions to the eager teams. During the heats and finals, many famous authors, often sit in for the quiz and are available to sign books or talk to afterwards. Authors at past quizzes have included Philip Pullman, Eva Ibbotson and Julia Golding.
I have always had a passion for reading but when I was younger, I never realised how many people shared my interest. When I moved to high school, I found out that there was a literature quiz being run in the library for Year 7 pupils. Intrigued by this, a group of friends and I went to try it out and I was immediately hooked.
When Year 8 came around, I was chosen to be part of a team to represent the school in the Kids' Lit Quiz. So, in November 2007, we went to Howell's School to compete in the Welsh Regional Finals. The buzzing atmosphere there and excitement is something that I will never forget. It was a close call that night, but our team managed to win and were crowned Welsh Champions. I was dumbstruck when we were announced in first place and couldn't stop shaking for hours afterwards.
I couldn't believe that I was part of a group that had just achieved something so amazing! The rest of the night passed in a surreal blur of crazy phone calls home and a lot of screaming and shouting. I still had that broad grin on my face when I went to bed.
Due to the fact that we were now the Welsh Champions, we were invited to compete in the UK Finals, for a chance to represent the UK in the World Final. Unfortunately, we were ill-prepared for the new system of buzzers and did not do well in that stage of the competition. So imagine our surprise, when we were asked back to represent Wales in the World Final!
It was pure luck that we were asked; because the Final was being held in the UK, they asked the champions from Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales to compete as well, so to provide more competition.
However, we attacked this opportunity with renewed vigour and for the months leading up the Final, we practised, practised, practised with a buzzer until we our brains could hold no more. At one point, one of my team members ended up reading the entire Chronicles of Narnia in under a week, so you can imagine our fervour.
The week of the World Final dawned. It was in July 2008 and on a Monday morning; we all travelled down to Oxford in a school minibus. We had a week of literary adventures ahead of us, but no one really knew what to expect. The quiz was on Thursday, and the days leading up to it would be full of activities based around Oxford. Everything lived up to my expectations, if not more so.
The days were a flurry of excitement, as we went from place to place, but some of the more vivid memories include the (very unhealthy) visit to the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop, where we got to know the UK team, Arnold House. There was also the ‘tea’ we had with the Poet Laureate at the time, Michael Rosen, who turned out to be a character that will remain imprinted in my mind for many more years to come.
We visited so many colleges, took a walking tour of Oxford, learnt the whole life history of Lewis Carroll and still had time to take a punt on the River Cherwell; an experience that showed us how difficult punting really is! The best part was that all of these activities were done with like-minded people, who you felt comfortable to discuss the intricate details of book with, because our passion for reading was the reason we were there.
The Kids' Lit Quiz World Final 2008 took place on the 10th of July at the Oxford Playhouse. All the teams were there, including schools from China, New Zealand and South Africa. We competed in front of an audience of authors, school children and parents, which did not help our tense nerves one bit! But in fact, we managed to fly the Welsh flag well, when we finished in third place.
It was a testament to how the hard work that we put in the months previous to the quiz had paid off and this made our small victory all the better. We had done the best we could and the feeling of ecstasy is something I have never felt again.
At the time, I remember myself comparing it to the euphoria that astronauts are supposed to feel when they leave the Earth’s stratosphere. Our week ended with a gala dinner, where we had the chance to scrub up and talk to some of our favourite authors. Each team also had to present a small review of their favourite book; a team member and I decided to do ours in tandem.
We presented a short poem about the book Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson, where we praised it for its simplicity, but at the same time, its strong characters and morals. It was well received and afterwards, Eva Ibbotson’s agent gave us her business card and encouraged us to send the poem to Eva.
We did so, and many months later, got the chance to meet her, where she told us how much she enjoyed the poem. We were all pleasantly surprised at her sincerity and for a few weeks afterwards, our heads became preposterously swollen with pride.
Schools nowadays tend to focus on sports achievements rather than academic ones and it is often the 'nerds' of the class that get excluded from friendship groups because they aren't considered to be 'cool'. This is why I feel that the Kids' Lit Quiz is instrumental in showing teenagers that reading is a sport in itself and can be just as 'cool' as playing football for a club.
We are still in touch with the friends that we made then and are still marvelling at the fact that we were lucky enough to take part in this once in a lifetime opportunity. I never imagined that I would ever sit at a table with Berlie Doherty and discuss her books! Taking part in the quiz made me realise how much I love literature and how eager I am to carry on with it in future.
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IMAGE: kidslitquiz
3 Comments – Postiwch sylw
lemonnhead
Rhoddwyd sylw 26 mis yn ôl - 25th March 2010 - 16:28pm
I entered in 2006/7 and my team got to the oxford finals as well! It was an amazing experience, and I'm glad it's being recognised.
Biscuits
Rhoddwyd sylw 26 mis yn ôl - 26th March 2010 - 16:10pm
Congrats on getting to the finals. I loved every minute of it, I wish I could do it all again. And Wayne was just hilarious (in a good way!). I was really surprised that there wasn't an article on the Lit Quiz here already so I thought I'd better remedy that
MiddyRocky
Rhoddwyd sylw 25 mis yn ôl - 9th April 2010 - 20:50pm
i was in the lit quiz in y7/y8.
i loved it,
amazing experience. something i will NEVER forget :)