Orange is the new black!

Or, if not the new black, then, even better, the new reading capital of Australia.

A team from Orange High School took on the mantle of national champions at the Australian Final of the Kids' Lit Quiz in Sydney last Saturday, succeeding the 2014 team from the nation's capital, Canberra Grammar School.

The 2015 Australian team from Orange High School

Reinforcing the depth of Orange's reading talent, a team from Orange Primary School placed second while a team from Kambala School, Sydney - competing in the Kids' Lit Quiz for the first time - placed third. Congratulations to these teams and to the other finalists, Canberra Grammar School (ACT), Kambala School's other team (Sydney), Anglican Church Grammar School (Brisbane) and Ambrose Treacy College (Ipswich). Well done all!

Huge congratulations to the girls in the 2015 Australian team. As the fifth team to qualify so far, with the Singapore and New Zealand competitions to be decided next, they'll be heading to the US in July to take on the world's best readers at the Kids' Lit Quiz world final in Connecticut. It promises to be an exciting week if past world finals are anything to go by; Durban in 2013 and Cornwall in 2014.

The Australian team now joins the national teams from the UK (Litcham School), US (Sedgwick Middle School), Canada (Southridge School) and South Africa (Manor Gardens Primary School). You can find reports on these teams here and here. And you can read more about the Australian national team in this news article.

We hope to bring you a complete report on the 2015 Australian competition soon. In the meanwhile, here's last year's report which explains how the national final works (the format is different from the heats) and Australian coordinator, Nicole Deans' post on how the Kids' Lit Quiz came to Australia.

The first heat/final was held in Orange in 2012 - with just 13 teams. How we've grown, with nearly 100 teams in 2015. And how lovely that a team from Orange, where the Kids' Lit Quiz started 4 years ago, is representing Australia at the 2015 World Final.

The prizes table at the 2015 Australian Final

I'm reminded of Dr Seuss' Oh! the Places You'll Go, of the places that reading can take us, both in our imaginations and in real life.

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!