Readers are feeling the rewards of the Treasure Hunt

The general public seems to be excited about reading and the Searchlight’s Treasure Hunt Competition series. So says Molicia Charles, the coordinator of the 45-week promotion.{{more}}

The competition which is just six weeks old has had about 300 entries and 28 winners. One of the objectives of the competition is to improve reading and literacy, as well as reward the readers of the Searchlight’s Midweek edition.

Charles noted that the feedback for the last six weeks has been very good, adding that there has been a great response from school children, with the majority of responses coming from females.

Several businesses are also attached to the promotion, such as Courts SVG ltd., Bickles, Jujube Bookstore and Digicel. Weekly winners of the treasure hunt receive gifts from one of the organizations. Winners can receive a gift from Courts, a $10 voucher from Bickles, a $20 voucher from Jujube and a $25 credit from Digicel.

Speaking with Searchlight, the sponsors all expressed their thoughts of the series so far, adding that it lends to the cause of improving literacy among the general public. Juno DeRoche, Marketing Manager of Digicel, stated that the initiative is a great one as it encourages persons to read and also addresses the issue of illiteracy. Expressing similar sentiments, Nerline Cambridge of Bickles stated that the series helps to promote the aspect of reading. Michele Samuel of Jujube Bookstore also stated that the series has made persons excited about reading. Samuel stated that the store has rewarded four winners with vouchers thus far, and that all persons have been able use their vouchers satisfactorily.

Charles also stated that the series encourages persons to read and pay attention to what they are reading, as opposed to simply scanning stories. Charles added that in some of the responses, it is evident that the persons just scan the stories. Charles, however, stated that not all answers can be found by just scanning the stor;, they call for in-depth reading.

The rules of the promotion are as follows: The questions for the Treasure Hunt are posted every Monday by 8pm on the paper’s website (www.searchlight.vc). The answers to the questions may be found by reading the articles in the Searchlight Midweek edition the following day, Tuesday. Readers have until noon on Wednesday to submit their answers to the coordinator Molicia Charles.

Each reader may enter once per week, and the first four winning entries with all five correct answers will receive a prize from one of the four sponsors. The four winners are chosen from a draw with all the winning answers that were submitted.