GoodHeart | Jerlicia Williams aims for top prize in JLS reading competition
Competition begins May 3, now open to participants up to age 99
Published:Saturday | April 19, 2025 | 10:03 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Jerlicia Williams, the 2024 winner of the six to eight age group in the Jamaica Library Service’s (JLS) National Reading Competition, is setting her sights on the top prize in the nine to 11 category later this year.
On Tuesday, during the launch of the 2025 JLS National Reading Competition, The Gleaner caught up with the St Mary’s Primary School grade four student in Above Rocks, St Catherine. She shared that she is already excited to dive into the books the JLS will provide in the coming weeks, leading up to the parish and national finals in August.
“I’m a little bookie when I’m ready, and I am fun-loving,” the shy girl said before scooping over to the side of her mother to continue speaking on her behalf.
Now halfway through her primary-school education, Williams admitted that she can sometimes stress herself out over schoolwork, assignments, and tasks she needs to complete like preparing for the National Reading Competition.
“The first year I entered, I did not emerge the winner but was in the top five and returned for the trophy. Additionally, the first year I should have entered, there was the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused me not to compete until I returned to school in grade two,” Williams told GoodHeart.
When asked about the books she has enjoyed reading and those she’s looking forward to, Williams mentioned that she prefers non-fiction over fiction, particularly history, science, and evolution–subjects that align with her schoolwork.
Williams also shared that her entry into the competition is a bit of a funny case. While she attends school in Above Rocks, St Catherine, she is a member of the Parks Road Library in St Andrew, the closest public library to her home. Because of this, her entry and participation in the JLS National Reading Competition fall under the jurisdiction of St Andrew each year.
When asked how she felt about living in St Catherine but representing St Andrew, the shy youngster hid her face. But, her mother, Cilicia Surgeon, stepped in to explain that it was one of the reasons they made the trip to the capital on Tuesday evening for the launch of the competition.
Williams was introduced to the National Reading Competition by her grade one teacher, who saw her great reading potential.
One of Williams’ biggest inspirations as a reader is her mother, who has always been a strong support. Surgeon explained that as a parent, she sees it as her responsibility to lead by example, so she makes a habit of reading regularly to encourage her daughter to do the same.
“I was very ecstatic when I learnt that she was the winner [the first time she won], and she is excited, and even recently, we went on the road and saw trophies, and she said, ‘Mommy! I’m going to enter again this year because there are trophies that I’m going to win’,” Surgeon said.
She added, “So I’ve been saying, ‘No problem. As long as you put in the work’.”
Since the competition began in 1988, more than 110,000 people have participated, including 3,700 entrants last year. The JLS is hoping to surpass that number in this year’s staging. This year, the competition is being held under the theme ‘Keep Reading Alive in 2025’.
Maureen Thompson, director of the JLS, mentioned that, unlike in previous years, individuals up to the age of 99 are now eligible to enter the competition.
“From its inception in 1988, the National Reading Competition has served as a strategic pool to support the national agenda of improving literacy, cultivating a love for reading, and highlighting the powerful and diverse quality of Caribbean literature. In the latter years, we have turned the spotlight on Jamaican poetry through a partnership with the National Library of Jamaica, and a few years ago, we added financial literacy as part of the programme courtesy of the VM Foundation,” Thompson said.
The competition will begin on May 3, and entrants will be given books to read from a list created by the JLS, which will be announced on the day the competition starts.