The 2026 Southern Readers Cup

CBCA Tasmania was pleased to conduct the 2026 Southern Readers Cup and appreciated the hard work of the staff at host school Dodges Ferry and the teachers and staff of the other participating schools, some of whom travelled quite long distances to attend.  It was a delight to have some smaller country schools join in and make the most of this opportunity to come together to test their reading knowledge and creative interpretations of six wonderful books.

 

It was a pleasure to be the official Master of Ceremonies at this year’s 2026 Southern Readers’ Cup, superbly hosted by Dodges Ferry staff. The four visiting schools were participating for the first time so there was a touch of the unknown, a hint of trepidation and an overall air of excitement as students from Sorell School, Austins Ferry Primary School, Dunalley Primary School and as far away as Triabunna District School, joined the Dodges Ferry team to decide this year’s winner.

 

The competition was in two parts – with the Quiz in the morning. With most teams new to this experience, the demand for recall across the six books was certainly a challenge. It was terrific to see group members sharing ideas and deciding on the best answer. The two judges, Maureen Mann and Narelle Williams, commented on how well they did attempting some tricky questions and how carefully responses were recorded.

 

Readers Cup teams from Austins Ferry, Triabunna and Dunalley

After a break for lunch and a stretch in the fresh air, the teams returned, prepared for the Creative Performance segment. Simple, clever and home-made props were included, interesting and informative PowerPoint presentations were displayed, including an entertaining movie showing time in its many forms, narrations, a rap, acting performances and a detailed and intricate diorama were on show. Some teams included more than one medium to share their understandings of one or more of the books and the audience was entertained throughout. Judges were impressed at how some teams had woven themes from different books into their presentations and others had drilled down to explore key messages in their chosen title.

 

Dodges Ferry Primary School won the Quiz component making the most of a home base advantage as the only team to have participated in the Readers Cup before - they knew what to expect! They had obviously read the books very carefully and with consideration of possible questions. Team members each received Quiz Master medals in recognition of the depth of their knowledge across the six books.

The Sorell School team members were awarded with the Creative Performance Medals for their clever play that explored various themes with Tim Tie Your Shoelaces a unifying thread that brought in key messages from other books. The audience waited with baited breath for ‘Tim’ to trip on those extraordinarily long shoe-laces!

Sorell School and Dodges Ferry with their medals.

Combining both the Quiz and the Creative Performance scores resulted in Dodges Ferry also winning the overall competition and retaining the cup for the second year.

 

Dodges Ferry Primary School with the Readers Cup

What a wonderful day! As the MC, I felt that all teams were winners. The students were engaged, supportive and had clearly gone the extra mile to do their very best work on the day. Teachers and the CBCA TAS team – MC and judges – also had a wonderful time, impressed by the hard work of the students, their collaboration, creativeness and camaraderie. Congratulations to you all.

 

Jennie Bales

MC for the day

CBCA Tasmania Committee.