On Monday, March 28, the annual Battle of the Books awards ceremony took place at Main Street Library. Izabela Cieszynski, Director of Libraries and Information Services, welcomed the audience, and Vice Mayor Coleman spoke about the competition and congratulated the winners. In the elementary school division was St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in first place, Hampton Roads Academy in second place, and B.C. Charles Elementary in third place. The winner of the middle school division was Hampton Roads Academy and Warwick River Christian School came in second.

Battle of the Books is the result of collaboration between the Newport News Public Library System and the Williamsburg Regional Library, as well as other library systems in the Hampton Roads area. This annual competition allows students to read the best of current literature and to test their knowledge of those books against their peers. The winners of the local competitions competed in the Regional Battle which was held at Williamsburg Regional Library on Saturday, March 19th. Hampton Roads Academy won regional winner in the middle school division for the second consecutive year.