Wanganui Intermediate's top literary stars have won the top first and second placings in the regional Taranaki/ Wanganui Kids' Lit Quiz last week.
The winning team, the Wisards , made up of Seth Scrimshaw, Sarah Miller, Grace Thurlow and Alexander Torrie came away with the top score of 91 out of
110 questions.
Close behind in second place with a score of 82.5 were the "Wislets", another Wanganui Intermediate team, made up of Alan Wang, Richard Mosen, Emma Browning and Zara Collinson.
The teams won $300 and $80 respectively.
The eight students chosen to compete achieved the best scores in a schoolwide literacy test. Two years ago, a Wanganui Intermediate team came third in the national finals of the competition.
In the regional quiz, students had to write down the answers to questions on 10 different categories, including poetry, mythology, and a section on the Harry Potter series - one of three sections the Wisards passed with 100 per cent.
The teams were coached by Wanganui Intermediate library manager Kathy Vanderschantz, who said the students had been reading between five and six books a week to prepare for the competition against 18 other schools.
"We were practising every week and in the last three weeks almost every school day. There's now way that they can know what the categories will be, because the questions are changed every year. They just have to be very well read in all areas."
The Wisards will go on to compete in the national competition in Wellington on June 20 at Parliament.
The pressure would be on, because students would have to buzz in their answers, not just write them down, she said.
"I know that they will do their very best. You just never know. They are working hard."
The winners of the national competition will receive $10,000 to go toward flying to Edinborough to compete in the world finals.
