The 9th Mini Literary Quiz

– the only local interschool competition that gives children, who’ve always loved to read, a chance to display their knowledge and win prizes for it!

Twenty-six teams of students and two teams of staff from Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland took part in this year’s Mini Lit Quiz in Morpeth. The Quiz is modelled on the Kids Lit Quiz (UK) with both individual and team prizes, but has six rounds instead of ten and its own unique style.  Each round of ten questions follows a particular literary theme but, unlike the KLQ, there is also a Pictionary round featuring picture clues, a stand-alone round and between-round elimination competitions for cash prizes.

The first round, which was all about numbers, produced some high scores – including a perfect 10 for Staff B – the only one of the competition!  Chantry C won this round outright and, if they’d played their Joker, they would have clinched the competition before it had really got going!  However, only Gosforth East C took advantage of this relatively easy round to double their score and take the lead.

Marden Bridge excelled in the Sports round, both A and D teams tying with the highest scores.  Sadly, neither team played their Joker – unlike Gosforth Central B and Dr Thomlinson C, whose doubled scores propelled them into joint first place, relegating Gosforth East C to third.   Marden Bridge D went on to win this round on a tiebreaker.

The Pictionary round, as always, turned out to be a real game-changer. More than half of the twenty-eight teams played their Joker but…. found it much harder than they expected!  Newminster C and Dr Thomlinson B tied on 9, wisely played their Jokers and pushed themselves into joint third place. (Staff A, also with 9, must have regretted not playing theirs!)  Marden Bridge A and D, playing very consistently, soared to the top of the leader board and Dr Thomlinson B won the round on a tiebreaker.

In round 4, the students proved to have far more knowledge than the staff about what goes on in garages and sheds!  No fewer than five teams tied with the highest scores but Marden Bridge A and D clung on to the top two places of the leaderboard.  Ovingham A bounced back into the reckoning, tied with Dr Thomlinson B and D. Newminster D won this round on yet another tiebreaker.

The penultimate round on Being Different floored nearly everyone.  Ovingham A pushed Marden Bridge D into joint third place, which they lost in a tiebreaker to Newminster D.  Chantry D won this round as other teams with the same score had already won prizes.

The final stand-alone picture round on Publisher’s Logos was won by a team of two, Gosforth East C, after teams that had already won prizes were eliminated.

Marden Bridge A won the contest with an unassailable lead of 3½ points over Ovingham A, who came second. Separated by only 1 point, Newminster A came third after a nail-nibbling tiebreaker.  Marden Bridge D, made up to strength with students from Dr Thomlinson and Chantry, performed brilliantly and their excellent team spirit really paid off!

Nearly every school had at least one team in the top ten positions, which shows how closely matched they were and it was good to see lots of Y6 teams gaining experience for next year. The staff teams were evenly matched as usual but Staff B’s secret weapon – a librarian – gave them the advantage.  Well done to them!

Teams that win the top three places aren’t eligible for a round prize, so the final results are as follows:

First	Marden Bridge A	Round 1	Chantry C
Second	Ovingham A	Round 2	Marden Bridge D (¼ Chantry)
Third	Newminster A	Round 3	Dr Thomlinson B
		Round 4	Newminster D
		Round 5	Chantry D
		Round 6	Gosforth East C

This was the last Quiz for our amazing Year 8s – Iona, Anna, Will and Tom – who were split between different teams this year. Do we have anyone to take their place and carry us to victory next year?  We might find out at the regional heat of the Kids’ LitQuiz in Gosforth in November!

If you have always been an avid reader of a wide range of books and would like to have a go at the Quiz, let us know!

A big THANK YOU goes to Alice and Tallula who worked tirelessly, keeping the markers, adjudicators and data team supplied with answer sheets and refreshments, taking superb photos and generally making sure they were always in the right place at the right time.  Girls you were indispensable!

Thank you also to our student marshals, who waited patiently for half an hour before the Quiz to welcome our visitors and ensure that none of them got lost, and then saw them safely away at the end!  You are a great team!