Suwon City Recruits Participants for '2023 Suwon Reading Golden Bell Competition'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Chung Jun-sung] Suwon City is recruiting 250 elementary school students each from middle grades (3rd and 4th grade) and upper grades (5th and 6th grade) on a first-come, first-served basis starting August 1 to participate in the '2023 Suwon Reading Golden Bell Competition.'

The competition is jointly hosted by the Suwon Bookstore Association and Kyobo Bookstore Gwanggyo Branch, with sponsorship from Suwon City. It will be held on October 3 at the Bohunjaehwal Sports Center's comprehensive gymnasium. The event is designed to inform children of the importance of reading and help them form proper reading habits.

Questions will be developed from up to 50 questions total based on 10 selected books each for elementary middle and upper grades, with 10 participants selected in the first round by highest scores, followed by selection of the final three Golden Bell finalists in the second round.

In the final round, the three participants will compete to ring the Golden Bell. The competition will be held in Session 1 (10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) for middle grades (3rd and 4th), and Session 2 (2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.) for upper grades (5th and 6th).

The first-place winner will receive cultural gift certificates worth 500,000 won, with an additional 500,000 won prize if the Golden Bell is rung. Second place receives 300,000 won, third place 100,000 won, and fourth through tenth places receive 30,000 won each.

Prize money will be provided as cultural gift certificates. Applicants can apply at 20 bookstores in Suwon including Kyobo Bookstore Gwanggyo Branch, Gyeonggi Books Cheoncheon Branch, Mangpo Bookstore, and Sukji Bookstore.

Meanwhile, Suwon City plans to operate a reading author lecture series titled 'Meeting with Authors' in September as a program linked to the Reading Golden Bell at 11 Suwon City libraries including Seonkyung, Mangpo Geulbit, Youngtong, Hallim, Buk Suwon, Beodnae, Hwaseo Dasan, Daechugol, Taejang Maru, Seo Suwon, and Gwanggyo Hongjae libraries.