Rural parishes shine at JLS National Awards

Rural parishes swept the national awards at the Jamaica Library Service (JLS) 2026 National Reading Competition finale, with Portland copping two top honours and a mother and her son being named parish champions.

Marsha-Lee Mundle and her son, Liam Williams, were parish champions for Portland in the 21-and-over and six-to-eight age categories, respectively. Mundle was also the national runner-up in her category.

Yendi Burke was Portland’s parish and national champion for the 12-14 age group.

However, the overall champion across all age groups, winning by just a few points, was Haley Clarke from Trelawny. She was also parish and national champion in the 15-20 category.

During the awards ceremony held Thursday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, organisers expressed pleasure at the increased number of participants in this year’s competition, which saw more than 7,000 applicants, a 37 per cent spike over last year.

Dr Maureen Thompson, director general, said the JLS network was severely impacted by the devastating effects of Hurricane Melissa, but the growth and interest in the competition demonstrated resilience.

“This is a word that we all have been using since Melissa arrived and the competition took place against a backdrop of the aftermath of the hurricane, which presented a very significant challenge for the Jamaica Library. Forty-three of our libraries were affected, some sustaining severe damage, and others experienced total loss. As a result, our operations have been reduced from 109 to 85 in nine locations islandwide. Under these circumstances, you would have thought that we would have said, what we do in competition, maybe we should postpone it...” she said in remarks.

However, the resilience of staff came to the fore.

“Based on the devastation, not only to our libraries, but also our staff were affected. But we chose not to. What we did, we embraced the theme that we chose for this year, Together We Read, Together We Rise,” she said, noting that this is the 38th year of the annual reading competition.

She said the JLS team mobilised a vigorous promotional campaign islandwide, and the results were remarkable, with 7,708 persons registering at libraries islandwide to participate in the 2026 competition.

THRILLED ABOUT NEW APPOINTMENT

In her first address as chairman of the board of the JLS, Nicole Campbell McLaren said she and fellow board members were thrilled to be on board.

“All of us are very happy to be on this new board and we really feel the call to service in a very deep way and we are very invested in our mission and the success of the JLS and, really, the end goal and most important thing being that reading becomes entrenched. As you know, that’s a journey, but promoting a culture of reading, and creating and furthering a library service that is responsive, modern, that our young people want to use and that they feel excited about going to; a hub where they can meet other people; where books can be discussed, and where poetry nights can happen, and cafes can flourish and people can come and read. Yes. And maybe also, work on other things,” she said, outlining the vision of what the service should ultimately look like.

The 2026 JLS reading ambassador, Renee Wallace, was also presented.

Wallace is a book creator and influencer at Ren’s Bookish Space online.

“I want to develop that spark or keep that spark alive with reading. Right now, I think that reading is on trend, and on social media book creators are on TikTok and Instagram and social media use among young people is big. And that is how I am hoping and planning to reach them. I also want to make reading fun and exciting,” she told The Gleaner.

She said it has always been her mission, through her page, to make reading seem fun, exciting and social. Book clubs and competitions among such clubs are among the plans as part of promoting book events.

JLS communication manager Royane Green said the competition caters to persons aged six to 20 and over, who are afforded the opportunity to read various books, genres and excerpts throughout the competition while competing for prizes.

The flagship programme, which takes place from April to August each year, selects age-group parish champions, followed by a national quiz finals to cap the national reading competition. Among other activities is Read and Rhyme Fun Time, a programme for young readers in kindergarten and primary school, where students visit libraries and enjoy story hour.

Green said the fun time included games and activities spurred by reading and was held islandwide.

“We also reaped major successes recently with Read Across Jamaica Day, where we hit another record number of over 14,000 students impacted. The JLS network coordinated our librarians and a number of corporate partners going out into the field to engage with the students,” Green said.

The JLS also has a Jumpstart programme, which trains parents to support their children in reading. In June this year, Fathers Who Read was launched in conjunction with the Victoria Mutual Foundation and executed at the Manchester Parish Library.

“We are going to be working with a group of 20 to 25 fathers and their children to engage in reading activities and games, empowerment sessions, to simply strengthen their capacity to be active dads who will read to and with their children. So, a number of things happening through the JLS where reading is concerned,” he told The Gleaner.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com