“I want to write my own stories.”

For the school round of The Daily Star's campaign, "Master Reader", SHOUT went to Heritage School in Narayanganj on October 24, 2019. The competition focuses on encouraging the youth to read and to enrich their knowledge in English language.

The competition started with Group 1, which consisted of students from Classes 5 and 6. A total of 25 students gathered into a classroom, excited and curious about what was to come next. Each student was provided with a notebook, a pen and an issue of the supplement, SHOUT. They were tasked with two things: completing a crossword puzzle game in an hour and in between, each of the students would go into the next room to participate in a reading competition in front of a panel of judges.

During the highly competitive puzzle-solving segment, students read the SHOUT issue to find clues to complete the game. The game focused on testing the students' vocabulary. During the reading test, many of the students showed a very good grasp on reading a newspaper. The students were also asked impromptu questions on the article they had just read and all of them were able to answer adequately.

Tanish Sheikh from Class 6 was announced the winner from Group 1, who performed excellently in the game as well as the reading test.

As for the competition for Group 2, which comprised of students from Classes 7 and 8. In this group the students showed a great level of enthusiasm for their public speaking contest with many citing their interest in reading and creative writing. The segment started off with the students reading a particular SHOUT article and preparing a speech within a given period of time. After taking extensive notes and preparing their speeches, they were provided with the word puzzle while each student took turns to sit for the test.

Several students in this category not only talked about their interests but also spoke about their passion for learning new things. One student from Class 8 spoke about his passion for learning about sustainable energy while another student from Class 7 gushed about their love for writing fantasies.

After a highly competitive round, Mostafa Saif Bin Iqbal from Class 7 was announced the winner from Group 2.

When asked about their experience in participating in this competition, one student said, "I read SHOUT often and this competition made me want to try to write stories of my own."

   The winners from Group 1 and 2 will get the chance to represent their school in the final round of Master Reader, where they will be competing against other representatives from ten other schools from different parts of the country.